Tach light

[Odinist]

Okay, so I searched on the forums, and couldn't really find anything as detailed as what I'm wanting to find, so hopefully someone can help me.

The light for my tach is burned out. I need to know what kind of bulb goes in there, and how I go about changing it.

The bike is an 81 550L.

Thanks in advance!

[chiphead]

Usually you remove the cable and then take of the two 8mm acorn nuts. This will allow you to drop the chrome cover down and pull the tach up enough to get the rubber socket out that the bulb sits in. Take the bulb to your local supplier to match.

[catfishk]

the bulb is held in by a rubber boot, just tug on it (not the wires) and it will pop out. took me a while to figure out what was going on when i opened mine. but i am sloooooower than many...

[chuckycheese]

Bulbs!

This may be more than you want to know and you've already received good instruction on changing the bulb. The standard, suggested bulb is 3.4 watts but I replaced mine with a 4.0 watt bulb. I used Sylvania #3893 which is a European lamp but available at most auto parts stores. I like a nice, bright light. It is larger but will fit quite easily and looks great at night.....just don't look at it too long, at one time, or you might crash!! We wouldn't want that!!:-D

[SqDancerLynn1]

Either Suzuki or Honda dealer should have them

[doggscube]

I'd like to piggyback on this thread, are there bulbs in my '81 GS450S speedo and tach? The exploded parts diagram doesn't show any.

Jeff

[whiteboyslo]

*threadjack*

the Sylvania 3893 worked great, but i have a problem. the bolts that the acorn nuts go on to went backwards up into the gauge housing! i didn't know it was just a loose bolt, so when the threads didn't come through, i pushed it up a little more and *pop*. how in the hell am i going to get these screws out!!??????

Mike

[chiphead]

I'd like to piggyback on this thread, are there bulbs in my '81 GS450S speedo and tach? The exploded parts diagram doesn't show any.

Jeff

Yes there are. They are usually listed with the instrument cluster.

[doggscube]

Which ones are they, and how do I access them? The cluster for my bike is much different from the 550.

http://70.85.253.252/spst/1981%20GS450S/48.gif

Jeff

[chiphead]

Which ones are they, and how do I access them? The cluster for my bike is much different from the 550.

http://70.85.253.252/spst/1981%20GS450S/48.gif

Jeff

They are #10 on that link you posted.
Looks like you have to disassemble the cluster to get the gauges up and out in order to pull the rubber sockets out of the base of the gauge.

[whiteboyslo]

that looks similar enough to the cluster on my 79 GS1000. once you remove the 2 acorn nuts on the backside, work the chrome cover out of the way enough that you can see in. if it's like mine, at about the 12 o'clock position, you'll see two wire heading into what looks like a rubber plug. pull out on that rubber plug. there's your bulb. replace and voila!

Mike

[doggscube]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I'm a new rider so I won't be out at night for a while, but the thread reminded me of it.

Jeff

[whiteboyslo]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I'm a new rider so I won't be out at night for a while, but the thread reminded me of it.

Jeff

same here. but, BE CAREFULL WITH THE SCREWS!!!! like i said in my previous post, there' nothign holding them down. if you push hard enough, they'll retract all the way up into the gauge housing. i have a feeling a simple bulb replacement now means i have to do dome major deconstruction just to get those bolts out. argh!

Mike