Peenie Wallie: XR400 Headlight Out

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July 09, 2008

XR400 Headlight Out

I went to ride my XR the other night and noticed my headlight was out. So, I called around and the local Honda shop said the part number is "34908-SA0-811". But, this is a surprise to me as that appears to be a 55 watt bulb, and the Honda Service Manual says that it takes a 12V 35 watt bulb.

This online parts list that says the 2002 XR400 has a plastic lens(33123-KCY-670) and a 35w bulb(34901-MN1-671).

I looked on ThumperTalk here and here and there is some concern on ThumperTalk that the 55w bulb may melt the plastic lens, so they suggest replacing the plastic lens(33123-KCY-670) with the glass lens(33123-MK2-671), and, of course, rewinding the stator. But, there is also some discussion on the forum that the 55w H3 bulb can be purchased at an auto parts store for $5.00 and dropped in behind the plastic lens without rewinding the stator. So, I think that's what I'm going to try first. A "55 watt H3 bulb" from Autozone. This appears to be a "Sylvania Fog Light" bulb. The AutoZone part number is H3-55W and they appear to sell for $5.99 locally. Or, I found them online for $1.77.

There is a little trick to them though, in that they aren't exactly a drop-in replacement for the old bulb, so I'll need to do a little modification to make it fit.

The existing wiring harness for the headlight bulb has two wires, blue(hot) and green(ground). All I had to do was cut the blue wire and solder it to the new white piggy tail wire. (I was afraid that if I didn't cut the blue wire, it would short out the bulb the way it was set up.) The bulb actually fits into the existing socket fine. (It's a little small, but it's held in place when the back of the wiring harness is compressed and turned into place.)

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