Yamaha FJR1300 dashboard bulbs replacement

Dashboard bulbs tend to fade and blow over time. Once I got a couple of blown bulbs in my dashboard, I literally could not figure in the dark, how much gas left in my '2003 Feejer.

Investigating types of bulbs used in FJR dashboards I figured that I'm going to need eight bulbs of type T3.4 14V-0.8A (notice, they are rated for 14V):

Considering how time consuming it is to disassemble FJR dashboard, it may make sense to replace blinker bulbs as well. Those are of type 12V-2W T5.

Shopping for the dashboard bulbs I ended up with three options:

• original Yamaha bulb purchased at a dealership ($5.5 each)
• a generic, compatible bulb sold at a local auto spare parts shops ($2.5 each)
• a pack of 5 bulbs from Dealextreme ($0.5 each with shipping)

Although Yamaha also sells blinker bulbs (for $2.7 each), those are much more common in auto spare parts stores (for under $1 each).

I had no time to wait for a shipment from China so I grabbed a box of compatible bulbs from local spare parts shop:

Those bulbs are of Koito brand, part number 1592.

Now comes the boring part. You are going to:

• dismount the windshield
• dismount the four black plastic panels (A,B,C,D)
• unscrew 4 bolts holding headlight to the frame
• unscrew those small bolts holding together the upper and side cowlings PLUS one central bolt on the upper cowling
• unplug headlight and side blinkers wires

At this point the whole upper cowling could be pulled forward and off the bike. Be careful not to scratch side cowling while pulling the upper one. Now:

• unscrew a bolt holding windshield rising motor
• unscrew three bolts holding the dashboard

You will not need any special tools besides common things like a screwdriver, hex bit and a few wrenches.

A few close-up shots to let you see some details:

 

As you have the dashboard off the bike, just unscrew its bottom lid:

 and carefully extract all 8 small (dashboard):

and 2 larger (blinker) bulbs:

There turned to be 9 sockets for the small bulbs in the dashboard, however one of them was not occupied by a bulb. Not sure it is even wired.

As you are done with bulbs and before assembling things back together, power up the dashboard to make sure all bulbs are indeed functional. Assemble everything back in reverse order.