MRC Forum- brought to you by www.morini-riders-club.com

Guys;

I'm sure that one of you will have had to replace a headlight bulb - mine has just gone at 6,450 miles...

The manual makes it look so easy - but having undone the dip beam screws to get at the "burnt bulb" all I have is a floppy lense and bulb holder. Am I missing anything here?

Any helpful advice gratefully rec'd...

CC

You just unscrew the rear housing and everything pops out, the bulb unplugs and then you twist and remove it..reassembly is a bit of a faff as you have to hold it all back in place until you get the 3 screws in...
Since going HID I havebnt had to replace a burner , whereas previously I had 3 bulbs in about 2000 miles

Not sure what i can add,I've replaced mine which i found awkward with my big hands. Yes only 3 screws to undo the backing plastic .Then i somehow removed the backing plastic part, which I'm not sure you have to do .took ages to get that back in place. All pretty straight forward though,just have a good long look . Biggest hassle i found was finding the correct bulb . The Manuel states 55W H11 ,But the one in my bike was a 60W HB3 . Which was definitely an original equipment item as it was removed from a brand new bike at 3x .Cost me about £12.00 from a car supplies shop ,but since seen them on EBay cheaper

Thanks guys; 3X quote me £10.50 per bulb, which will of course not include VAT... At least they have loads in stock.

Unscrew the rear housing - but is that using the cross head screw or the 4mm allen keys? I tried the cross head screws and all that seems to do is loosen the lens, so I'm off out now to undo those allen keys, which look a right pain to do!

Good riding,

CC

Defo the allen key bolts

The bulbs are a standard fitment on a Ducati 999 the one wth the same projector lights as the GP..but they are also fitted to several Italian cars and I believe some mazdas..ebay was the cheapest by a long way...still rate the HID conversion as better value

Well, the bad weather has meant that I've only just got around to replacing this bulb. What follows is just for the record, as it were. [Edits in italics]

The original is a Phillips so it should be widely available, although 3X now charge a whopping £20+ plus the dreaded VAT at 20%. They also charge 30 minutes labour to fix, which could be considered a snip as it took me the best part of 45 minutes [blagging tools, coffee and worming my way - almost - in to the warmth] (plus coffee break) to fix. When I'm back at home I'll look up the reference and edit the detail in here '1.8 N 21; HB3 12v 60w; 9005 12v 65x DOT' ~ take your choice, both those voltages are on the original bulb!!.

It helps to loosen the 'beak' to get at the allen keys (3mm) and the round housing can be completely removed. Two top screws and the one on the side (behind the indicator) are off in a trice and save oodles of time - the one on the indicator housing screws in to a trapped bolt, so doesn't come away and get lost when you take the bolt out.

The cross head screws are for aligning the beam direction - the one bottom right (on dip, it'd be bottom left on main) brings the beam closer to the nearside when loosened off. These screws are held in setting by shake proof washers and a spring, so in theory they stay where they're left.

Un-fasten the electrics before twisting the bulb out, and put the repalcement in before refastening the connector. Don't touch the lense, and test it prior to refitting the housing. Put the three allen keys in through the back with the rear housing in place, and fix the inside screw first - loosely - followed by the other bottom one and the leave the top 'til last - it's easier that way.

On the original models the fixing plate could come into contact with the lense holder if the beam was aligned to an extreme location. The factory modification was to grind a little more of the plate away, thus increasing clearance - as simple as that. Another 15 minutes of my work was re-aligning the plate to remedy taking the wrong screws out initiallyJob done, but it's far easier on a Strada...

CC

Honestly it never took me 10 minutes to change my bulbs..not sure where your 45 minutes went