07 GS500F, Dash lights not working / headlight cuts off

[GS_Lacsamana]

Got a 07 GS500F that recently ran into an issue, the dashlight on either the RPM or speedometer gauge is not working.

I did pull the gauges off as my RPM needle was going all over the place, unscrewed the screws that attached the RPM gauge and cleaned those contacts. Removed the Speedometer, just to check to see what was under that one. Installed them back and that fixed the RPM jumping. Turned the bike on at night and noticed no dash lights.

Figure it is loose wiring but trying to figure out where I would check for the loose wires as I noticed the bulbs are connected directly to a connector. Noticed headlight shorted out when I turn the handle bars to the right, did not happen when I turned them to the left.

any help is appreciated.

[Daeouse]

Sounds like a short within the front harness. Are the bulbs good in the gauges? Did you tug on any wires when you pulled the cluster? Have you pulled the headlight and checked all of the contacts underneath within the wiring harness and on the headlight itself?

[Torstein]

Is there a how-to on how to get into the gauges? I noticed that my speedo light is out, my tach light is fine though. So I suspect that my bulb died. Also, my neutral light does not work, so maybe I need a new bulb there too? Just not sure how to get into it.

[Fatasianboy]

On my gs500e, the bulbs for high beam, turn signal, oil and neutral are on backside in of the dash. They're in rubber housings that you just shove into their respective holes and the rubber grommet holds it in place. To get it out, I just did some careful tugging and the light bulb & rubber bulb housing popped right out.

[ron freeman]

Turn your bars at night and see if you see sparks. Odd thought that the main fuse isn't blowing.

[Janx101]

Maybe a pinched wire near the triple. .. but maybe also overheated wires near the loom plug under the tank, and one direction moves it just enough to separate? ..

Multi meter is your friend here! And ideally a workshop manual wiring diagram so you know which wires to test! Instead of working through a whole heap trying to find the right one.

The bike wiring is fairly simple when you decipher what is where!

[GS_Lacsamana]

So got home after work (i work graveyard, and that is when i discovered the problem) and pulled the bulbs out and tested with multimeter. Got good voltage so looked for replacement bulbs, only thing local that could fit was 194 bulbs, bought those and those work. The bulbs work and i have lights, strange they both went out at the same time. I Have a package of T10 with correct wattage on the way from amazon.


As for a tutorial to remove, its pretty simple. This is for +04, i dont know if the procedure is different for before.

To replace bulbs in the rpm/speedometer there are two 8mm bolts on each gauge on the backside. The rpm side you can just lift out and the bulb is connected with two wires and you just pull it out of the housing. Speedometer has two extra steps, remove the speedo cable (unscrew it from the bottom of the housing) and remove the odo dial (small screw inside the dial) and then its the same procedures as above.

The other dash lights require you to remove two 10mm bolts holding the housing to the steering wheel and then remove the speedo cable, turn the housing over and pull the bulbs straight up. Note they are not the same bulbs as the speedo/rpm