How Do You Remove Gauges ?

[tommykaw]

Some of my dash bulbs are out and I was interested in replacing the lbulbs with led s but I m not sure how to get to them.do I have to remove the entire fairing or is theire an easier way.Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Tom

[MBrane]

You have to remove the front cowl to get to the meters, but once that is off you can get to all the bulbs.

[KevCarver]

Entire front upper has to come off. If you haven't done it, it may be easier to remove the sides first. But, I've been able to take off just the front upper.

Put a towel or shop rag over the fender. Once the upper is free, you can set it on the fender to work on the bulb connectors. They are a major PITA! Pinch both sides of the connector and pull. It's simple, but until you get the hang of it, a major pain!

A lot of LED bulbs are polarity specific, so be sure to test before you put it all back together! If it doesn't light up, spin it 180.

My only issue with LED replacements was the FI light. I think the newer ones have built in resistors, but when I bought mine they didn't. It would come on half power all the time.

Color match the bulbs to the lens.

White behind the dials.

Blue or white behind the LCD screen. It already has a blue filter behind it, sandwiched in the layers. It can be removed, but I tired it on a spare and couldn't get it functioning again after. Others have done it successfully, however...

[tommykaw]

You have to remove the front cowl to get to the meters, but once that is off you can get to all the bulbs.

Does that mean the entire fairing? I changed the oil recently and removed just the left side. Do I remove both sides. eBay has a manual for 20 bucks plus shipping . I was thinking about picking it up.

Thanks

Tom

Entire front upper has to come off. If you haven't done it, it may be easier to remove the sides first. But, I've been able to take off just the front upper.

Put a towel or shop rag over the fender. Once the upper is free, you can set it on the fender to work on the bulb connectors. They are a major PITA! Pinch both sides of the connector and pull. It's simple, but until you get the hang of it, a major pain!

A lot of LED bulbs are polarity specific, so be sure to test before you put it all back together! If it doesn't light up, spin it 180.

My only issue with LED replacements was the FI light. I think the newer ones have built in resistors, but when I bought mine they didn't. It would come on half power all the time.

Color match the bulbs to the lens.

White behind the dials.

Blue or white behind the LCD screen. It already has a blue filter behind it, sandwiched in the layers. It can be removed, but I tired it on a spare and couldn't get it functioning again after. Others have done it successfully, however...[/quote

Thank you

[KevCarver]

Mirrors off, little "ears" inside upper, windscreen, and a bunch of little stuff. Little screws between the gauge surround and the upper, etc.

Once it's free, lights as I mentioned above. Also the turn signals. Don't forget the temp sensor.

[MBrane]

You have to remove the front cowl to get to the meters, but once that is off you can get to all the bulbs.

Does that mean the entire fairing? I changed the oil recently and removed just the left side. Do I remove both sides. eBay has a manual for 20 bucks plus shipping . I was thinking about picking it up.

Thanks

Tom

You can downed a PDF version of the shop manual here. 5th gens have some of the easiest bodywork, but there are a few "tricks" that can hang you up until you know 'em. Also if the bike has been down it can be a real pain to get things to line up. I also like to have plenty of spare well nuts, and push rivets on hand. Any that are even suspect of breaking on disassembly get replaced. Nothing worse than getting things 90% back together only to have to remove it all because a well nut broke that you can't get to.

[zoomzoom]

This might be of some help. When I replaced the bulbs in my gauge cluster last year I did a How To. Here's a link.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/76765-how-to-upper-cowl-removal-on-5th-gen/#entry925804

Once you get the upper cowl off and out of the way, you should be able to see 3 - 10mm nuts that hold the back of the cluster to the fairing stay. Once you remove those you should be able to move the cluster forward enough to replace the bulbs. As mentioned a lot of the LED bulbs will only work when installed the proper way. If you go that route just check to make sure the bulbs are inserted correctly by draping a towel over the gauge cluster (just to make it dark enough you can see) and look at each of the bulb locations from the back of the cluster. You should be able to make out a glow around the base of each bulb socket to,tell you if each bulb is working. If not, pull the LED out and rotate it 180 degrees and put it back in and check again.

[tommykaw]

This might be of some help. When I replaced the bulbs in my gauge cluster last year I did a How To. Here's a link. http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/76765-how-to-upper-cowl-removal-on-5th-gen/#entry925804

Once you get the upper cowl off and out of the way, you should be able to see 3 - 10mm nuts that hold the back of the cluster to the fairing stay. Once you remove those you should be able to move the cluster forward enough to replace the bulbs. As mentioned a lot of the LED bulbs will only work when installed the proper way. If you go that route just check to make sure the bulbs are inserted correctly by draping a towel over the gauge cluster (just to make it dark enough you can see) and look at each of the bulb locations from the back of the cluster. You should be able to make out a glow around the base of each bulb socket to,tell you if each bulb is working. If not, pull the LED out and rotate it 180 degrees and put it back in and check again.

Thank you that was an excellent write up and the pictures are very help ful

Thanks again

Tom

[mello dude]

LIke everbody is saying, you gotta strip it down. Zoomzooms pics show the process. Once you get all off, you end up looking at....

GL

[tommykaw]

LIke everbody is saying, you gotta strip it down. Zoomzooms pics show the process. Once you get all off, you end up looking at....

GL

Thank you- now that is the heart of the matter!,,,,

Does anyone know what led bulbs we need and where to buy them.

Thanks

Tom

[zoomzoom]

The instrument cluster uses 194 wedge base bulbs. I purchased mine from SuperBrightLEDS.com. Here is a link to the ones I used and they are nice and bright and have a 360 beam pattern. Some of the tabs on the plastic discs used to light the gauges pick up the light from the sides of the bulb and not just the top so these bulbs worked quite well. If you look through the site, they also have some cheaper bulbs as well that might work equally as well, but have a look and see what you think. Personally I went with blue LED's to change the color of the gauges and this more personal taste. One caution on color would be that a have heard, and personally experienced, that the red color LED's do not seem to show up well so I might steer clear of that particular color.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/instrument-cluster-gauge/194-led-bulb-5-led-wide-angle-wedge-base/199/

[tommykaw]

The instrument cluster uses 194 wedge base bulbs. I purchased mine from SuperBrightLEDS.com. Here is a link to the ones I used and they are nice and bright and have a 360 beam pattern. Some of the tabs on the plastic discs used to light the gauges pick up the light from the sides of the bulb and not just the top so these bulbs worked quite well. If you look through the site, they also have some cheaper bulbs as well that might work equally as well, but have a look and see what you think. Personally I went with blue LED's to change the color of the gauges and this more personal taste. One caution on color would be that a have heard, and personally experienced, that the red color LED's do not seem to show up well so I might steer clear of that particular color.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/instrument-cluster-gauge/194-led-bulb-5-led-wide-angle-wedge-base/199/

How many do we need?

Thanks

Tom

[zoomzoom]

The instrument cluster uses 194 wedge base bulbs. I purchased mine from SuperBrightLEDS.com. Here is a link to the ones I used and they are nice and bright and have a 360 beam pattern. Some of the tabs on the plastic discs used to light the gauges pick up the light from the sides of the bulb and not just the top so these bulbs worked quite well. If you look through the site, they also have some cheaper bulbs as well that might work equally as well, but have a look and see what you think. Personally I went with blue LED's to change the color of the gauges and this more personal taste. One caution on color would be that a have heard, and personally experienced, that the red color LED's do not seem to show up well so I might steer clear of that particular color. https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/instrument-cluster-gauge/194-led-bulb-5-led-wide-angle-wedge-base/199/

How many do we need?

Thanks

Tom

Hey Tom

As I recall there are 5 bulbs total ( 3 for the gauge faces and 2 for the LCD screen ) that are used to illuminate the gauge faces and the LCD info display. If you change the lights for the turn signal indicators as well then there are 2 extras. Be cautious with changing the turn signal indicator bulbs to LED as they may change the speed that the turn signals flash (I thought I remember reading that somewhere, but not sure). There are also 4 bulbs that are found at the very bottom of the gauges and I think they are smaller than the 194's. I chose to replace the turn signal indicators bulbs with regular style 194 bulbs from the local auto parts store and similarly with the 4 bulbs for the oil/high beam/neutral/FI light. Main reason was that the regular style bulbs were FAR cheaper than the LED's and these bulbs are so rarely used that I couldn't see the added expense.

One thing to remember is that you need to match the color of the bulb to the lens it shines through otherwise the color may not shine through as well.

[number9]

The instrument cluster uses 194 wedge base bulbs. I purchased mine from SuperBrightLEDS.com. Here is a link to the ones I used and they are nice and bright and have a 360 beam pattern. Some of the tabs on the plastic discs used to light the gauges pick up the light from the sides of the bulb and not just the top so these bulbs worked quite well. If you look through the site, they also have some cheaper bulbs as well that might work equally as well, but have a look and see what you think. Personally I went with blue LED's to change the color of the gauges and this more personal taste. One caution on color would be that a have heard, and personally experienced, that the red color LED's do not seem to show up well so I might steer clear of that particular color.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/instrument-cluster-gauge/194-led-bulb-5-led-wide-angle-wedge-base/199/

I'm trying to order OEM bulbs for my dash, as now the tach is a little dim at night -- one of the bulbs has gone out. The trouble is, I'm not sure which one it is, as the parts manual doesn't really show which bulbs go where:

http://www.ronayers.com/oemparts/a/hon/506c2b3cf870023420a30fef/speedometer

According to that diagram, only one of the bulbs has a standard qty of 5. Do you think that's what I need? One of the bulb sets with qty 2 is for the indicators, but I'm not sure what the other bulbs would be used for.

Thanks!

[zoomzoom]

Hey number9

The bulb that you are looking for on the Ron Ayers fiche is Part #5 (Honda part # 34909-KW3-003). The speedo, tach, and LCD readout lights use standard automotive style wedge bulbs, type 194, and you should be able to pick those up at any automotive parts store for considerably less than the factory Honda bulbs.

Part number 3 on the Ron Ayers fiche is for the turn signal indicator bulbs, which can also use the same style wedge bulb (type 194).

The indicator lights on the very bottom of the dash are the bulbs listed as part #4 on the Ron Ayers fiche.

Personally I would go with the standard type 194 wedge bulb if you were going to replace the lights with standard incandescent bulbs and would replace all 5 bulbs at the same time as Sod's law will dictate that if you replace only the burnt out bulb the rest will fail one at a time, usually right after you re-install the fairing. LOL

If you were to go with LED's for the gauge lights, you could go with plain white LED's instead of colored bulbs and then you would never have to worry about a bulb burning out ever again. :)

[number9]

Thank you zoomzoom! That was very helpful. I ordered five bulbs and I'll change them out all at once.

[TNRabbit]

Make sure get the L3Ds in the right polarity or you'll find yourself taking it all back apart~

[RazorWing]

I'm getting ready to do the same thing, and planning on using LEDs as I JUST got my bike (PirateBen's bike) and the two behind the digital cluster are not working. Just a few questions.

1) The link posted earlier for removing the fairings just comes up blank for me now, any one else?

2) LEDs should match the filter they are behind, right? So I'm a little confused how many of each color I should get. I understand two blue behind the digital part, what should the other three be? Also, where is the third? I'm guessing one behind the speedo and one behind the tach. I'm also thinking of doing some of the other lights while I'm in there. What type are the signal/nutrel/etc lights? Signals will be Green LED I guess.

3) Seeing how the two instructions seem to overlap a great deal, would chaining the headlights (also going to do LED) be a good idea at the same time? It seems like you remove the same parts to do it.

Thank you all!

Edit: I'm also working off this thread: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/68893-changing-the-instrument-panel-bulbs-to-leds/page-3

Does this look right? 5 blue for the dash, 2 green for the signals, and last 3 are for Oil (red), Neutral (Green), and High Beams (Blue)?

Sorry, just don't want to tear it down only to not have the right parts as I'm going to try to knock this out right before TMAC.

[zoomzoom]

I'm getting ready to do the same thing, and planning on using LEDs as I JUST got my bike (PirateBen's bike) and the two behind the digital cluster are not working. Just a few questions.

1) The link posted earlier for removing the fairings just comes up blank for me now, any one else?

2) LEDs should match the filter they are behind, right? So I'm a little confused how many of each color I should get. I understand two blue behind the digital part, what should the other three be? Also, where is the third? I'm guessing one behind the speedo and one behind the tach. I'm also thinking of doing some of the other lights while I'm in there. What type are the signal/nutrel/etc lights? Signals will be Green LED I guess.

3) Seeing how the two instructions seem to overlap a great deal, would chaining the headlights (also going to do LED) be a good idea at the same time? It seems like you remove the same parts to do it.

Thank you all!

Edit: I'm also working off this thread: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/68893-changing-the-instrument-panel-bulbs-to-leds/page-3

Does this look right? 5 blue for the dash, 2 green for the signals, and last 3 are for Oil (red), Neutral (Green), and High Beams (Blue)?

Sorry, just don't want to tear it down only to not have the right parts as I'm going to try to knock this out right before TMAC.

Hey Razorwing

When I did the write up for the cowl removal in the link you are referring to, it seems to have magically disappeared. All is not lost however. I posted the same write up and How To over on VFRW. Here is a link to the thread.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/43794-HOW-TO-Upper-Cowl-Removal-on-5th-Gen?highlight=

As I recall, you have to be signed in as a member in order to be able to see the photos. just personal preference but when I changed out the bulbs in my dash to LED, the only only bulbs I changed were the gauges and the LCD screen. The LCD screen takes 2 bulbs and the speedo/tach use three.

A helpful hint when you change the bulbs and install the LED's is that you cover the gauge pod with a towel or something so that it is dark and look at the rear of the cluster. When the ignition is on and it is dark enough, you should be able to see a halo of light around the bulb socket indicating that the LED has been installed properly. If there is no light coming from around the socket then remove the bulb twist it 180 degrees and re-insert it. Then check again just to make sure.

Personally I like the look of the gauges in blue. White, green, or blue seem to work fine behind the gauges from what I discovered but red does not shine through very well at all. The red does however work fine for the LCD information display and is more than bright enough for the colour difference to be visible even in the daylight.

When it comes to changing the headlights to LED's I would be tempted to go with the Lifetime LED's. They are more expensive than some of the other alternatives but a lifetime warranty is hard to beat, and from what I have heard the installation of the bulbs themselves is far easier.

Good luck with the project.

[TNRabbit]

I experimented & prefer the warm white for the overall instrument light. I used the blue for the LCD panel and I would stick with the regular bulbs for the tiny lights at the bottom.