Joined
·
248 Posts
Put this together to help anyone who either a) wants to replace the high/low beam on their Scrambler with a whiter/superwhite bulb or b) has a blown the EOM bulb and wants to be replace it. I would rate the entire operation as low/intermediate in terms of DIY difficulty. It is a lot less straightforward than any other bike I've owned and will take a reasonably competent person about an hour from start to finish.
Here are the tools you will need to do this:
![]()
Ratchet, 6"-12" extension, T25 Torx, #5 Allen/Hex wrench, Phillips (star head) screwdriver (various sized recommended), Needle nose pliers.
You will also need a 55/60 Watt H4 type halogen bulb (obviously). Note that some 9003 bulbs may be compatible but the reason for different bulb types is that a) H4 is specifically for motorcycles and is supposed to be more "heavy duty" to stand up to the additional vibrations/abuse that motorcycles put the bulb through and b) the male tabs on the bulb that plug into the bike's female harness may be a slightly different size. If you want to be sure it will fit, just get an H4 from your local motorcycle part shop or order one online. I went with the bulb below which set me back about $30 CDN. You can spend nearly $100 CDN on some of the fancier name-brand bulbs but I've used both and have seen absolutely no difference in performance or life-expectancy so my advice is to not waste your money.
![]()
I chose an aftermarket bulb that has some blue in it. Without going into a whole lesson about color theory, the concept is that the natural color temperature of a halogen bulb is yellow'ish, so adding blue to it counteracts the yellow and should produce a white-colored light. Some bulb manufacturer may provide color temperatures (7000K, etc) for their bulbs but I have found these claims to be largely unreliable. Easiest way to gauge color temp with halogens is to see how blue the tint of the bulb is and decide from there. If you go too blue, you'll actually get less light and won't see as well so use this guide as a baseline if you haven't experimented with these types of bulbs before. My personal rationale for doing this is that I wanted the low/high beam color to match the while LED light ring around the headlight. The stock one is more on the yellow side so it looked off to me. Here is the OEM bulb and the "superwhite" H4 bulbs side-by-side for reference:
![]()
Step #1 : Remove 2 x headlight bracket screws, headlight adjustment screw and headlight power supply clip (if you are really anal you can disconnect the battery too but I don't think it's necessary...just make sure the bike is off and keep the key in your pocket).
First order of business is to get access to the headlight brackets. There is one on each side of the headlight and each one is held in place by 2 x torx bolts (torx is the BMW standard fastener...the star-shaped one that's similar to hex...but not compatible so you need the specific T25 Torx socket or equivalent). Here is what they look like:
![]()
Be careful when accessing these with your ratchet extension so that you don't scratch the tank or fork tubes. There are a bunch of wires on the left side specifically so just push them out of the way so you get a clear run at the bolts. Once you get both brackets off, you'll also need to take off the spring-loaded bolt that serves as the headlight beam-height adjuster on the right side of the headlight. You'll need to remove the cotter pin from the end of the bolt in order to back it all the way out. Make sure you keep the spring and clip together with the bolt:
![]()
The last thing you'll need to do is remove the metal clip retainer that connects the headlight power plug to the headlight housing itself. Use your needle-nose pliers for this and it should come off easily. You don't need to worry about the headlight assembly falling off the bike until this point. When you disconnect the power, make sure you (or a friend) are holding the headlight assembly so it doesn't fall on the ground (and possibly shatter as the headlight cover is actually glass). Also note that you don't need to remove the ring around the headlight and any UE owners (or people like me who put the headlight grille on) don't need to remove those parts either. Here are all the parts you should end up taking off the bike:
![]()
Here's what you will be left with when looking at the bike without the headlight housing. Notice the power connector on the lower right side, the white round bosses which are the mounting points for the black clips we removed and the hole on the lower left side which is there the headlight beam height adjuster screw was (the spring-loaded one):
![]()
Step #2 : Replace bulb within headlight housing
This part can be tricky for 2 reasons: 1) the little silver phillips screw you will be dealing with to remove the actual bulb (4 outside the cover, but the 1 inside is the a-hole) are basically made out of 100 year-old cheddar cheese (meaning they are very soft and can easily be rounded, making your life ****). I recommend experimenting with different size phillips screwdrivers and finding one that fits exactly before you start removing them.
4 screws outside:
![]()
Once you remove that cover, you'll need to loosen (not remove) the screw you see inside the cover on the left side (the one that's holding the spring-loaded clip that presses the bulb against the housing). For me, this screw was really tight and I nearly stripped it (cheddar), so be careful and again, make sure you have the right size screwdriver. *You do not need to remove or loosen the other screw on the right side. Make sure you take a good look at how the clip fits in there as it will likely pop out when you start loosening the screw:
![]()
Now that you have removed the clip, set it aside. The bulb will now be loose but you may not be able to remove it from the housing until you disconnect the plug from the back of the bulb. Just pull on it gently while holding the bulb in the housing and the plug will come loose. You can then pull the bulb out and keep it as a spare (or throw away if it was blown). Here, notice the orientation of the bulb. It has 3 metal "fins" that align within the housing. You'll want to make sure you put the replacement bulb in the exact same way so that it seals properly.
Step 3: Begin re-assembly
Put the NEW bulb in, making sure to align the 3 "fins" with the recesses in the housing. Halogen bulbs get pretty hot when they are running so make sure you don't touch the glass portion of the bulb with your finger (or anything else really...) because the oil from your finger can cause the bulb to fail prematurely once you get it up-and-running (you'll have to re-do this whole procedure because you didn't listen to DJKham and you will feel like a real douchebag). Just handle the bulb by the metal part and you've got nothing to worry about. Next, connect the plug to the back of the new bulb. Now, for the fun part: Replace the retaining clip that keeps the bulb in place. If you studied the way it fits before taking it out, it should be relatively easy...but it won't be. You can also reference the pictures above. Once the clip is in (you don't have to force it), tighten the left side screw (the cheddar one). You can then attach the cover to the back with the 4 screws you took out. Bingo, headlight assembly is back together.
Step 4: Testing
Before you get too crazy/excited, you will want to test the new bulb. Following the reverse order of how you took everything apart, plug the power back into the housing and while holding it in place with one hand, turn on the key to your bike and start it with your free hand. After a 1 second delay, the headlight bulb should come on. Test the low and high beams to make sure they are both working. Then, take a few seconds to ooh and ahh at the awesome white-ness of the new bulb and great work you're doing so far...
![]()
![]()
As an aside, when the bike is off, the headlight reflector will have a cool "blue'ish" tint to it. This is a free benefit of this mod and will make people think your bike is even more high-end when parked:
![]()
Step 4: Putting it all back together
Now that you have an awesome new superwhite headlight bulb that works, you get to suffer a little with the re-assembly before going for a ride. Here is the order I recommend for putting the remaining parts back on:
1) Metal clip for wiring harness (just slide back onto the harness by hand)
2) Headlight beam-height adjuster (with spring and cotter pin) > this was a PIA because of the spring. Just line it up straight and use your allen wrench to start it in there.
3) Headlight brackets (easiest to locate these in the holes with the extension and then hand-tighter with a ratchet
So, there you have it. Something as simple as replacing a headlight bulb, made quite complicated by our dear Italian friends
I'm not sure how one would do this on the side of the road if your headlight ever quit on you in the back-country. Needless to say, I hope that doesn't happen to anyone reading this, but at least if it does, now you know what to do!
Here are the tools you will need to do this:
Ratchet, 6"-12" extension, T25 Torx, #5 Allen/Hex wrench, Phillips (star head) screwdriver (various sized recommended), Needle nose pliers.
You will also need a 55/60 Watt H4 type halogen bulb (obviously). Note that some 9003 bulbs may be compatible but the reason for different bulb types is that a) H4 is specifically for motorcycles and is supposed to be more "heavy duty" to stand up to the additional vibrations/abuse that motorcycles put the bulb through and b) the male tabs on the bulb that plug into the bike's female harness may be a slightly different size. If you want to be sure it will fit, just get an H4 from your local motorcycle part shop or order one online. I went with the bulb below which set me back about $30 CDN. You can spend nearly $100 CDN on some of the fancier name-brand bulbs but I've used both and have seen absolutely no difference in performance or life-expectancy so my advice is to not waste your money.
I chose an aftermarket bulb that has some blue in it. Without going into a whole lesson about color theory, the concept is that the natural color temperature of a halogen bulb is yellow'ish, so adding blue to it counteracts the yellow and should produce a white-colored light. Some bulb manufacturer may provide color temperatures (7000K, etc) for their bulbs but I have found these claims to be largely unreliable. Easiest way to gauge color temp with halogens is to see how blue the tint of the bulb is and decide from there. If you go too blue, you'll actually get less light and won't see as well so use this guide as a baseline if you haven't experimented with these types of bulbs before. My personal rationale for doing this is that I wanted the low/high beam color to match the while LED light ring around the headlight. The stock one is more on the yellow side so it looked off to me. Here is the OEM bulb and the "superwhite" H4 bulbs side-by-side for reference:
Step #1 : Remove 2 x headlight bracket screws, headlight adjustment screw and headlight power supply clip (if you are really anal you can disconnect the battery too but I don't think it's necessary...just make sure the bike is off and keep the key in your pocket).
First order of business is to get access to the headlight brackets. There is one on each side of the headlight and each one is held in place by 2 x torx bolts (torx is the BMW standard fastener...the star-shaped one that's similar to hex...but not compatible so you need the specific T25 Torx socket or equivalent). Here is what they look like:
Be careful when accessing these with your ratchet extension so that you don't scratch the tank or fork tubes. There are a bunch of wires on the left side specifically so just push them out of the way so you get a clear run at the bolts. Once you get both brackets off, you'll also need to take off the spring-loaded bolt that serves as the headlight beam-height adjuster on the right side of the headlight. You'll need to remove the cotter pin from the end of the bolt in order to back it all the way out. Make sure you keep the spring and clip together with the bolt:
The last thing you'll need to do is remove the metal clip retainer that connects the headlight power plug to the headlight housing itself. Use your needle-nose pliers for this and it should come off easily. You don't need to worry about the headlight assembly falling off the bike until this point. When you disconnect the power, make sure you (or a friend) are holding the headlight assembly so it doesn't fall on the ground (and possibly shatter as the headlight cover is actually glass). Also note that you don't need to remove the ring around the headlight and any UE owners (or people like me who put the headlight grille on) don't need to remove those parts either. Here are all the parts you should end up taking off the bike:
Here's what you will be left with when looking at the bike without the headlight housing. Notice the power connector on the lower right side, the white round bosses which are the mounting points for the black clips we removed and the hole on the lower left side which is there the headlight beam height adjuster screw was (the spring-loaded one):
Step #2 : Replace bulb within headlight housing
This part can be tricky for 2 reasons: 1) the little silver phillips screw you will be dealing with to remove the actual bulb (4 outside the cover, but the 1 inside is the a-hole) are basically made out of 100 year-old cheddar cheese (meaning they are very soft and can easily be rounded, making your life ****). I recommend experimenting with different size phillips screwdrivers and finding one that fits exactly before you start removing them.
4 screws outside:
Once you remove that cover, you'll need to loosen (not remove) the screw you see inside the cover on the left side (the one that's holding the spring-loaded clip that presses the bulb against the housing). For me, this screw was really tight and I nearly stripped it (cheddar), so be careful and again, make sure you have the right size screwdriver. *You do not need to remove or loosen the other screw on the right side. Make sure you take a good look at how the clip fits in there as it will likely pop out when you start loosening the screw:
Now that you have removed the clip, set it aside. The bulb will now be loose but you may not be able to remove it from the housing until you disconnect the plug from the back of the bulb. Just pull on it gently while holding the bulb in the housing and the plug will come loose. You can then pull the bulb out and keep it as a spare (or throw away if it was blown). Here, notice the orientation of the bulb. It has 3 metal "fins" that align within the housing. You'll want to make sure you put the replacement bulb in the exact same way so that it seals properly.
Step 3: Begin re-assembly
Put the NEW bulb in, making sure to align the 3 "fins" with the recesses in the housing. Halogen bulbs get pretty hot when they are running so make sure you don't touch the glass portion of the bulb with your finger (or anything else really...) because the oil from your finger can cause the bulb to fail prematurely once you get it up-and-running (you'll have to re-do this whole procedure because you didn't listen to DJKham and you will feel like a real douchebag). Just handle the bulb by the metal part and you've got nothing to worry about. Next, connect the plug to the back of the new bulb. Now, for the fun part: Replace the retaining clip that keeps the bulb in place. If you studied the way it fits before taking it out, it should be relatively easy...but it won't be. You can also reference the pictures above. Once the clip is in (you don't have to force it), tighten the left side screw (the cheddar one). You can then attach the cover to the back with the 4 screws you took out. Bingo, headlight assembly is back together.
Step 4: Testing
Before you get too crazy/excited, you will want to test the new bulb. Following the reverse order of how you took everything apart, plug the power back into the housing and while holding it in place with one hand, turn on the key to your bike and start it with your free hand. After a 1 second delay, the headlight bulb should come on. Test the low and high beams to make sure they are both working. Then, take a few seconds to ooh and ahh at the awesome white-ness of the new bulb and great work you're doing so far...
As an aside, when the bike is off, the headlight reflector will have a cool "blue'ish" tint to it. This is a free benefit of this mod and will make people think your bike is even more high-end when parked:
Step 4: Putting it all back together
Now that you have an awesome new superwhite headlight bulb that works, you get to suffer a little with the re-assembly before going for a ride. Here is the order I recommend for putting the remaining parts back on:
1) Metal clip for wiring harness (just slide back onto the harness by hand)
2) Headlight beam-height adjuster (with spring and cotter pin) > this was a PIA because of the spring. Just line it up straight and use your allen wrench to start it in there.
3) Headlight brackets (easiest to locate these in the holes with the extension and then hand-tighter with a ratchet
So, there you have it. Something as simple as replacing a headlight bulb, made quite complicated by our dear Italian friends
I'm not sure how one would do this on the side of the road if your headlight ever quit on you in the back-country. Needless to say, I hope that doesn't happen to anyone reading this, but at least if it does, now you know what to do!
