Rear Light Question.

[THE DOCTOR]

I've just removed the 3 main bulbs (headlight, tail light & indicator) to see what they look like before I go to Halfords to buy spares (just getting prepared for a ride to France in May).

I noticed the tail light lens had no rubber seal & was a bit gritty around the bulb connector. The bulb's working fine.

So my question is..
Does the 1200GS come with no rubber seal on the tail light lens or has mine been left off by a previous owner?

 

[themadprofessor]

BMW in their wisdom decided to manufacture the tail light with no seals, and if you do not treat the bulb and cable terminals with ACF50 or similar it can rot through in less than one salty winter. Ask GSMonkey!!

I treated the aforementioned bits with ACF50 immediately I took delivery of my "05" bike and there has not been any corrosion .......... yet

Another example of the improvements in manufacturing technique BMW now employs. Whether they altered the design on the "07" models I don't know maybe someone who has closely inspected one in a showroom will be along shortly.

Chris

 

[silvermog]

They also designed one of the crappiest mounting systems for the bulb contacts I've seen.

After having problems with intermittent brake light and then outright failure, I dismantled mine to find that the main contacts are just a push fit into the back plate direct into a plastic mount.

My problem is not corrosion, but that the bulb contacts have loosened in the back plate (vibration related?) and hence don't make a good contact unless I press them back into contact by hand.

So, new backplate on the cards ... and probably another 14k before next replacement ...

In the meantime, I'm ordering an LED tail from NN with the intention of hardwiring it to the contacts and skipping the push fit backplate.