Nicely done Philip, a bit late to the party but everyone else talks about taking the Tupperware panels off, your the only one who shows it done in situ, saved me a load of time and grief, much appreciated, thanks for sharing 👍😃
Thank you for taking the time to produce this video. BMW Dealership tried to convince me it was a 90 minute billable job. Guy's try and use those famous 3 words that are so difficult for us to use. "I need help". After spending 15 minutes I got my wife to come into the garage. She has small hands and banged it put in about 6 minutes. Small hands are of great benefit.
Save yourself a lot of time by mounting the new bulb on a piece of hose pipe about 6 inches long. Easy to push onto mounting and rotate to lock it in. You can still hold the bulb in place while securing the tab springs. Works wonders and right hand side will take you a few minutes.,
Thanks for the tutorial, very good DIY headlight change out video conducting it blind. Was a pain the first time but got it done with a little skin chafing and bruising but couldn’t have done it without your help, thanks again.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. A suggestion, I found it really helpful to mount the bulb on a cork (a champagne cork) by first punching two holes corresponding to the fittings of the bulb with a screw driver. The bulb can be easily handle, held in place before clicking in place.
Well done my friend I especially like the fact you underlit the video, it makes the whole process seem a lot less difficult. I have to agree with previous comment that the right hand side is more difficult but not impossible. Thanks for going to the effort of showing us how it is done :^)Chris
Good job and a good video. It's taken me a few YEARS to get that headlight change down to a civilized amount of time! I find the stupid clip to be the thing that gives me the most trouble for some reason! Once again, good video, nicely done.
Just did this on a K1200S - 10 minute job. Only thing I'd add is that the dipped bulb is the centre cover on that BMW, and that the small square tang on the bulb points downwards. The cutaway on the housing didn't seem to make this obvious. Fitted Osram Nightbreaker H7 bulbs - £15 for 2 on your favourite drone-flying online delivery service. Video really helped though, liked the laser pointer too.
Video was very helpful. My current RT is 2 years old, I needed to replace the RHS low beam, My problem was the harness seemed to be welded in place. The only way I could tackle it was to detach the clips with harness in place and then manoeuvre the bulb out. I could then get some tools onto the harness!. rgds Mike
Is your ring titanium? If it is, beware they can be hellish to cut off if you have some kind of accident and it gets crushed or if your finger is swollen as a result of trauma. Bit of a problem for Accident and Emergency departments which are set up to remove soft gold rings.
Suggestions: have handy a magnet on a stick in case you dislodge the bulb and need to retrieve it from the headlight cavity. The lamp base is a ferrous metal and you can pluck it out. Also, be sure to push the hold down spring/wires up, and thus out of the way, when you go to install the new bulb. I wore nitrile gloves to avoid any skin oil getting on the bulb surface. Took 20 minutes total, including having to fish for the bulb with my stick magnet.
I just replaced my low beams and broke both plastic clips. used electric tap to protect bare wire. took longer than I thought it would. took of side panels to see better. But both are in and working.
Nice video. I just got an RT, and the right side headlamp just went out. I'm having trouble pulling the harness out (step after removing the cover). Is there a trick to this step? It came out easily for you. Is there a tab or something to release it? Do I have to pry it away from the clip section or the bulb itself? Thanks, Dean Wirsing
The harness didn't come off very easily for me the first time either. Wiggle it around, and if you can you might be able to grab with some pliers and pull. from what I recall, the clip only holds the bulb into the holder. The harness should come off prior to undoing the retention clip.
thank you for the video I'm in the process of replacing the right low beam, I've managed to take it out easily and am still waiting for new ones from ebay. Now what I would like to know is how to replace the top presence lights, anyone knows how this is done ? One of them is flickering need to replace it
@ADulay Thanks! I agree, that clip is tricky. But it was the 3rd time I had done it that night. The first time just to do it because my light was out. Then I realized I should have filmed it so during the second time, I filmed it but my hand was in the way too much. Then I changed it a 3rd time for a redo on filming. Probably could have done a couple things differently and gone for a 4th attempt, but the 3rd time got the jobs done
OK, listen up because I'm about to save you 4 hours of your precious time. I appreciate everyone who posts these helpful videos, but it is now clear why this one demonstrates replacement of the LEFT low beam instead of the right. Don't be fooled into thinking that the process is the same. Replacing the RIGHT low beam bulb is not only different, it's impossible. For starters, there is a housing of some sort on the right side which reduces the space to work with by about half. Unless you have tiny little hands you'll only get 2 fingers to the back of the housing, and one of them will NOT be your thumb. If you've ever tried to grip or twist anything using only your fore and middle fingers you get how clumsy that is. Because of that, if you actually to get access to the bulb you will drop it into the light housing-maybe multiple times-and have to fish it out, before you finally extract it. 90 minutes down. Then you will drop the new bulb-maybe multiple times-and have to fish it out too. Because it's the new bulb you won't be able to actually touch the glass, which makes the fishing out of the new bulb that much more tedious. Another 2 hours shot. At that point, I actually got the new bulb into the socket. You're probably thinking "home free", right? Wrong. The bulb will not stay in the socket by itself, and there is not way to hold the bulb in the socket while you reset the wire retaining clip that holds it in (2 fingers, remember?). After 4 hours, I called it quits. The bulb got dropped into a baggie and I'm now planning a trip to the dealer to have them install it. That's a 4-hour round trip for me. If I were you and your right low beam fails, save yourself a lot of grief and just pick up the phone and make an appointment at the dealer to have it replaced. Wish I had better news, but I've been working on cars and motorcycles all my life and this is the first time I have ever simply thrown up my hands and walked away from a repair job. And the one that stopped me was a headlight bulb. Embarrassing, but true. I sincerely hope that I have helped someone have a better day than I just had.
Agree. The right side is extremely difficult. Currently my new bulb is laying inside the housing. I am going to take some plastic off, try and get better access. Left bulb change about 10 minutes. I am a good hour into the right bulb change and not even close to having it in.
Had the same problem. Right lamp is a nightmare. But finally I've found a cure. Try to install a new bulb with the power cables connected. Really helps because the plug gives you a longer "grip" to hold the bulb in place. Also you don't need to touch the glass with your fingers and the cables are not blocking the possibility to lock the bulb in place. BTW - I use only long life bulbs to avoid such training of my fingers. Good luck :)
My left bulb blew,,,but I got of new bulbs and wanted to fit as a pair starting on the left...Well I got the old out,,but hell ,I could not get anywhere near getting the new one in,,so started removing the fairing (first time for me) ...After some major faff got it off...After that ,,I had more room ,,and it was easy (well still a pig,,but not too bad) got the left done ,,removed right panel.. that was alot easier,,, Then went of on a night ride and blinded all oncoming traffic ,because I forgot to readjust the light... ho hum
update: finally extracted the old bulb after a 45 minute struggle. then, while pushing the new bulb into the socket, I dropped that one too. only this time it has disappeared entirely... don't have any idea where it is. now I really see no option but dismantling the fairing. just wanted everyone to know that this has potential to be anything but the easy job this video makes it out to be. I'm an hour into it already with no clue where my new bulb went. I'll let you know how it comes out. BE WARNED!
Hi Dave. I now share your pain. I messed up the harness fitting putting it on the two tabs of the new bulb. So, I cut off the old right angle connector and replaced it with a straight in line connector that fits H7 bulb tangs. I used heat shrink crimp butt connectors. This gave me about 6 inches more wire and am now able to put the connector on the bulb outside of the housing, easy, peasy. Then I can use the straight connector housing as a hold to guide the bulb into the housing and since the connector is straight and not a right angle it does not interfere with the spring clips. There is plenty of room behind the bulb for a straight, in line connector and still get the round cover plate on. There is no reason BMW designers had to make changing lights this difficult, only to pad the dealer's pockets. Needing arthroscopic surgery tools should not be needed to change light bulbs! Good luck and good riding! Brian
Hello it is not the good method! The BMW book is a dead end! Under the rear view mirror, a triangle where R 1200 is registered RT and the BMW initials is fixed by 6 screws torx. You withdraw it in 5 minutes and there all becomes the simple… Thank you fitter!!
I think BMW engeneers should know that some people aready walked the moon... Why making a lamp change so complicated, you sould try the right hand side, even worse ....
one addition: once you get your fingers on the bulb, DON'T DROP IT! Mine fell into the headlight housing and got wedged in. I can only touch it with one finger. hard to extract something something with one finger. still don't know how I'm going to get it out without dismantling the fairing. wish me luck. trust me, you don't want to be in my place right now.
10 years old and still the best how to for this that I’ve found.
Nicely done Philip, a bit late to the party but everyone else talks about taking the Tupperware panels off, your the only one who shows it done in situ, saved me a load of time and grief, much appreciated, thanks for sharing 👍😃
Thank you for taking the time to produce this video. BMW Dealership tried to convince me it was a 90 minute billable job. Guy's try and use those famous 3 words that are so difficult for us to use. "I need help". After spending 15 minutes I got my wife to come into the garage. She has small hands and banged it put in about 6 minutes. Small hands are of great benefit.
Great video. Simple and clear explanations. Exactly what I was looking for. Much appreciated!
Save yourself a lot of time by mounting the new bulb on a piece of hose pipe about 6 inches long. Easy to push onto mounting and rotate to lock it in. You can still hold the bulb in place while securing the tab springs. Works wonders and right hand side will take you a few minutes.,
That worked well. Thanks for the tip..Used a hose on a spark plug,never occurred to my addled mind to do it with a bulb..
Thanks for the tutorial, very good DIY headlight change out video conducting it blind.
Was a pain the first time but got it done with a little skin chafing and bruising but couldn’t have done it without your help, thanks again.
After all these years still a good help! Thanks from a German Motor Officer!
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. A suggestion, I found it really helpful to mount the bulb on a cork (a champagne cork) by first punching two holes corresponding to the fittings of the bulb with a screw driver. The bulb can be easily handle, held in place before clicking in place.
Well done my friend I especially like the fact you underlit the video, it makes the whole process seem a lot less difficult. I have to agree with previous comment that the right hand side is more difficult but not impossible. Thanks for going to the effort of showing us how it is done :^)Chris
Good job and a good video. It's taken me a few YEARS to get that headlight change down to a civilized amount of time! I find the stupid clip to be the thing that gives me the most trouble for some reason!
Once again, good video, nicely done.
Cheers, just did mine on 2011 bike. All as you described. I changed the right which seems to have a little less room. Fiddly but achievable 😊
Just did this on a K1200S - 10 minute job. Only thing I'd add is that the dipped bulb is the centre cover on that BMW, and that the small square tang on the bulb points downwards. The cutaway on the housing didn't seem to make this obvious. Fitted Osram Nightbreaker H7 bulbs - £15 for 2 on your favourite drone-flying online delivery service. Video really helped though, liked the laser pointer too.
Video was very helpful. My current RT is 2 years old, I needed to replace the RHS low beam, My problem was the harness seemed to be welded in place. The only way I could tackle it was to detach the clips with harness in place and then manoeuvre the bulb out. I could then get some tools onto the harness!.
rgds
Mike
Merci, c'est le meilleur tuto que j'ai trouvé ! ❤
Unbelievably huge help and thanks so much... video and instruction well done sir !
The BRIGHTER the bulb...typo
Always thought that it took at least 6 people to change a light bulb.
GREAT VIDEO
Thank you very much. You've really helped me today with your videos.
That's brilliant, thank you soo much, is that H7 a tungsten lamp ?
“Brilliant “ I see what you did there
Is your ring titanium? If it is, beware they can be hellish to cut off if you have some kind of accident and it gets crushed or if your finger is swollen as a result of trauma. Bit of a problem for Accident and Emergency departments which are set up to remove soft gold rings.
Thank you for taking the time to do this. Great vid. This is perfect.
Suggestions: have handy a magnet on a stick in case you dislodge the bulb and need to retrieve it from the headlight cavity. The lamp base is a ferrous metal and you can pluck it out. Also, be sure to push the hold down spring/wires up, and thus out of the way, when you go to install the new bulb. I wore nitrile gloves to avoid any skin oil getting on the bulb surface. Took 20 minutes total, including having to fish for the bulb with my stick magnet.
I just replaced my low beams and broke both plastic clips. used electric tap to protect bare wire. took longer than I thought it would. took of side panels to see better. But both are in and working.
Great video… made it an easy to do the first time… thank you
Wonderful help, thank you! Provided insights needed for me to change the bulb on my K1200GT, too. Very much appreciated.
glad it helped!
Nice video. I just got an RT, and the right side headlamp just went out. I'm having trouble pulling the harness out (step after removing the cover). Is there a trick to this step? It came out easily for you. Is there a tab or something to release it? Do I have to pry it away from the clip section or the bulb itself?
Thanks,
Dean Wirsing
The harness didn't come off very easily for me the first time either. Wiggle it around, and if you can you might be able to grab with some pliers and pull.
from what I recall, the clip only holds the bulb into the holder. The harness should come off prior to undoing the retention clip.
thank you for the video I'm in the process of replacing the right low beam, I've managed to take it out easily and am still waiting for new ones from ebay.
Now what I would like to know is how to replace the top presence lights, anyone knows how this is done ? One of them is flickering need to replace it
Thank you so much for your help it worked for me and I have a 1200 GS so owners be advised it works on many BMW models
@ADulay Thanks! I agree, that clip is tricky. But it was the 3rd time I had done it that night. The first time just to do it because my light was out. Then I realized I should have filmed it so during the second time, I filmed it but my hand was in the way too much. Then I changed it a 3rd time for a redo on filming. Probably could have done a couple things differently and gone for a 4th attempt, but the 3rd time got the jobs done
Awesome video, thanks!
Legend. Thank you very much this helps.
ciao complimenti per il video , scusami che anno è la moto?
OK, listen up because I'm about to save you 4 hours of your precious time. I appreciate everyone who posts these helpful videos, but it is now clear why this one demonstrates replacement of the LEFT low beam instead of the right. Don't be fooled into thinking that the process is the same. Replacing the RIGHT low beam bulb is not only different, it's impossible. For starters, there is a housing of some sort on the right side which reduces the space to work with by about half. Unless you have tiny little hands you'll only get 2 fingers to the back of the housing, and one of them will NOT be your thumb. If you've ever tried to grip or twist anything using only your fore and middle fingers you get how clumsy that is. Because of that, if you actually to get access to the bulb you will drop it into the light housing-maybe multiple times-and have to fish it out, before you finally extract it. 90 minutes down. Then you will drop the new bulb-maybe multiple times-and have to fish it out too. Because it's the new bulb you won't be able to actually touch the glass, which makes the fishing out of the new bulb that much more tedious. Another 2 hours shot. At that point, I actually got the new bulb into the socket. You're probably thinking "home free", right? Wrong. The bulb will not stay in the socket by itself, and there is not way to hold the bulb in the socket while you reset the wire retaining clip that holds it in (2 fingers, remember?). After 4 hours, I called it quits. The bulb got dropped into a baggie and I'm now planning a trip to the dealer to have them install it. That's a 4-hour round trip for me. If I were you and your right low beam fails, save yourself a lot of grief and just pick up the phone and make an appointment at the dealer to have it replaced. Wish I had better news, but I've been working on cars and motorcycles all my life and this is the first time I have ever simply thrown up my hands and walked away from a repair job. And the one that stopped me was a headlight bulb. Embarrassing, but true. I sincerely hope that I have helped someone have a better day than I just had.
no impossible, i did it took around 2 hours of twisting and playing around.
Agree. The right side is extremely difficult. Currently my new bulb is laying inside the housing. I am going to take some plastic off, try and get better access. Left bulb change about 10 minutes. I am a good hour into the right bulb change and not even close to having it in.
Had the same problem. Right lamp is a nightmare. But finally I've found a cure. Try to install a new bulb with the power cables connected. Really helps because the plug gives you a longer "grip" to hold the bulb in place. Also you don't need to touch the glass with your fingers and the cables are not blocking the possibility to lock the bulb in place. BTW - I use only long life bulbs to avoid such training of my fingers. Good luck :)
My left bulb blew,,,but I got of new bulbs and wanted to fit as a pair starting on the left...Well I got the old out,,but hell ,I could not get anywhere near getting the new one in,,so started removing the fairing (first time for me) ...After some major faff got it off...After that ,,I had more room ,,and it was easy (well still a pig,,but not too bad) got the left done ,,removed right panel.. that was alot easier,,, Then went of on a night ride and blinded all oncoming traffic ,because I forgot to readjust the light... ho hum
@@micaKTM1290 Ha took me well over two hours to get the left changed,,the right about 10mins...thats life for you..
How about an update for the LC models
Sorry thought this was a MAX BMW video
Thanks for the video. It was very helpful!
Inane 'Go Ahead' counter just melted.
Great video, very helpful!
update: finally extracted the old bulb after a 45 minute struggle. then, while pushing the new bulb into the socket, I dropped that one too. only this time it has disappeared entirely... don't have any idea where it is. now I really see no option but dismantling the fairing. just wanted everyone to know that this has potential to be anything but the easy job this video makes it out to be. I'm an hour into it already with no clue where my new bulb went. I'll let you know how it comes out. BE WARNED!
Hi Dave. I now share your pain. I messed up the harness fitting putting it on the two tabs of the new bulb. So, I cut off the old right angle connector and replaced it with a straight in line connector that fits H7 bulb tangs. I used heat shrink crimp butt connectors. This gave me about 6 inches more wire and am now able to put the connector on the bulb outside of the housing, easy, peasy. Then I can use the straight connector housing as a hold to guide the bulb into the housing and since the connector is straight and not a right angle it does not interfere with the spring clips. There is plenty of room behind the bulb for a straight, in line connector and still get the round cover plate on. There is no reason BMW designers had to make changing lights this difficult, only to pad the dealer's pockets. Needing arthroscopic surgery tools should not be needed to change light bulbs! Good luck and good riding! Brian
Thanks. Very helpful.
Thank you, nice to see and to learn from you. :o)
Merci mec!!!!!!
Bonne année!!!
Thank you very helpful!
This way is not easy Mike 😂😂
Hello it is not the good method! The BMW book is a dead end! Under the rear view mirror, a triangle where R 1200 is registered RT and the BMW initials is fixed by 6 screws torx. You withdraw it in 5 minutes and there all becomes the simple… Thank you fitter!!
Helpful. THX
You're welcome
Thx man!
I think BMW engeneers should know that some people aready walked the moon... Why making a lamp change so complicated, you sould try the right hand side, even worse ....
one addition: once you get your fingers on the bulb, DON'T DROP IT! Mine fell into the headlight housing and got wedged in. I can only touch it with one finger. hard to extract something something with one finger. still don't know how I'm going to get it out without dismantling the fairing. wish me luck. trust me, you don't want to be in my place right now.
Pull the mirror off, and you should be able to see it. A magnet on a stick will grab it. Don't ask how I know.
No sound
OK so now try the right side not near as easy! Been there done that!
Really....Now do the other side....Not that easy !!!!!
now change the right one lol need hand like a 5 year old
Yep. Had to guide my wife to change the right one.
All I can see is a hand
@romeowhiskey1146 good catch... grrr :-)