Broken H7 Headlight Retaining Clip

I changed all 3 headlight bulbs today and the two parking light bulbs. All went well until I broke one side of one of the headlight bulb retaining springs which got caught on my latex glove, so the new bulb is essentially being held in with 1/2 a spring. It still pivots, but one side is missing. Bob's BMW says the clips are not available as a separate part, but there might be an alternative solution.

You guys are great for alternative solutions.

I'm listening......

I changed all 3 headlight bulbs today and the two parking light bulbs. All went well until I broke one side of one of the headlight bulb retaining springs which got caught on my latex glove, so the new bulb is essentially being held in with 1/2 a spring. It still pivots, but one side is missing. Bob's BMW says the clips are not available as a separate part, but there might be an alternative solution.

You guys are great for alternative solutions.

I'm listening…...

Found this with a google search for headlight bulb retaining clip H7 BMW

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/BMW-UNIVERSAL-HEADLIGHT-BULB-RETAINING-SPRING-CLIP-H1-H3-H4-H7-/221553922056

May be you can find it stateside.

I found those too. I also found this after hours of Googling last night:

It was from a site about installing HIDs in a BMW E36:

http://www.bmwe36blog.com/how-to-install-hid-inside-your-bmw-e36-diy.html

Going to try and get a p/n and price from the local BMW car dealer and see if the springs are close.

Problem is with the bike, although one side of the spring is enough to hold the bulb, it is angled to one side, and if it vibrates a little, it will rub on that metal shield inside the headlight housing.

An option might be to go to a hobby shop and get a piece of small-diameter piano wire. You could use the broken one as a guide.

I need to pull the headlight assembly out to get a closer look. There's really no way to work on this while its still in the bike. Read the link about Nacelle Removal, but wondering if its as simple as just removing 4 bolts (one under each mirror, and two in front) and unplugging the main light harness and 2 turn signal bulbs. Anyone ever taken an '09 RT headlight out to confirm?

Gorilla Tape. 25K & still working fine.

Ordered the H7 spring kit from the UK, and e-mailed as many BMW dealers around the country as I could. No luck so far. If the UK clips are close to the same size, that's a start. Getting it installed is step #2. (Well, removing the headlight without breaking anything else is really step 2).

I need to pull the headlight assembly out to get a closer look. There's really no way to work on this while its still in the bike. Read the link about Nacelle Removal, but wondering if its as simple as just removing 4 bolts (one under each mirror, and two in front) and unplugging the main light harness and 2 turn signal bulbs. Anyone ever taken an '09 RT headlight out to confirm?

I did it a few weeks ago to get at some wiring. Don't recall how many screws it was but it wasn't terribly complex. I think I had to pull the dash cover off, and that required removing the pivot pins from the upper windscreen brackets (held in with C-clips).

JayJay

A glimmer of hope. I think I found a K1300GT donor headlight which appears to use the same spring clip and mounting plate as the R1200RT's. If so, the plate apparently is held in to the headlight assembly with 3 metal tabs, so I might just be able to remove mine and replace with this one as a complete unit, rather than just the spring clip. Fingers crossed. If it works, I'll be happy to share results with everyone else here for future reference.

You can also stuff any non-flammable material in the black cup and put the cup in place. Works, believe it or not!

I think I have fantastic news for me, and for any others that may have, or will go through this in the future.

First, I worried waaaay too much about this headlight removal thing. Following these instructions:

http://www.bmrider.com/images/reports/R12RT%20Front%20Nacelle%20Removal%20Part%203.pdf, it took only 24 minutes to go from a completely assembled bike, to this:

Only things I will add to an already great tutorial is:

(1) I also removed these side pieces, which are held in with 2 bolts under the side view mirrors:

(2) My lower windshield pivots did not easily slide out once I removed the C-clips, and needed a little prodding with a small hammer and a center punch covered in a rag. Uppers came out fine with no issues.

(3) It is not totally necessary to remove the windshield, arms and dash cover to remove the headlight, but it makes it a million times easier to pull the main light harness out of the back as well as the turn signal bulbs, and only adds about 5 minutes to the job.

Once the headlight and nose are removed as a connected unit (only held in with 4 bolts), this is what you'll end up with:

7 more bolts separates the actual headlight assembly from the nose piece.

Now, here's the good stuff.

Here's a view of the H7 clip inside the headlight assembly, which clearly shows the broken wire:

Notice the three tabs at 12, 4 and 8 o'clock?

Well, if you get a real tiny screwdriver, and be gentle, you can pry the tabs apart just enough to remove the entire H7 mounting plate from the headlight assembly, and you'll be looking at this:

Do not break the 3 plastic tabs, as they are actually part of the headlight assembly; break a tab and you are indeed screwed. Easy does it. Just pry with tiny pressure from side-to-side, and just enough to get the metal barbs on the tabs away from the plastic tabs.

I removed all 5 bulbs from the headlight assembly (the 2 low beams, the high beam, and the 2 parking light bulbs). With a pretty gentle shaking, the broken spring clip and some other debris came falling right out.

Next are photos of the hinge mechanism for the H7 retainer clip:

Now that we can see the hinge mechanism up close and personal, you can unbend the hinge just enough to remove the broken wire retainer and replace it with something close, like the one that I ordered through Ebay from the UK, which comes with 6 assorted sizes. Bound to be something there close or easily modified. Or find a complete plate with a good retainer (like I did) from a K1200GT or K1300GT, or some other BMW model that shares this part, and just replace it as a unit. There are so many H4 and H7 retainer clips on Ebay from every make and model of Audi, BMW, Porsche, VW, etc., something's gotta work, and its gotta work better than duct tape, crazy glue or ignoring it.

The trick to discovering this, was disassembly, and getting down to the nitty gritty. I hope someone here finds this useful down the road, and that it saves you some time, aggravation or hesitation. If I can do this, anyone can.

I'll update this thread once my replacement parts get here, and I do the re-assembly.

For now, looks like a great time to get my RT-P Fan & shroud mounted.

Wooooo! Hoooooo!

wow...

that's a ton of work for a lightbulb. Thank you for documenting so thoroughly.

While you've got it off, it's a good time to bring some wires in for future farkling. I have 2 GPS, USB power, Satellite antenna and Valentine wiring all running up the side of that and popping out at the top of the dash so they can connect to stuff I mount on the dash. Even if you don't have all of it now, putting the wiring in will save you time later. I have my GPS units & Spot (hardwire power) mounted on the dash using a BMR shelf but just got a V-1 that I'll be adding over the winter and with the wiring done it's easy-peasy to add new stuff. It's all apart anyway, a little extra work adding a chase of wires is no big deal.

BTW, if you want to prep for the V-1 use a telephone wire with RJ-11 clips as it doesn't use standard two-wire power type connections that generic wire would suffice for.

For right now, I'm just glad I finally got my RT-P fan and shroud installed. Took all of about 15 seconds to install the 2 bolts. Just needed to unbolt and re-bolt the cruise control box and wiggle it out of the way for a second, so I had enough room to get a Torx driver on the fan shroud bolts. Leaving the fan wires zip tied to the frame for now, as I don't have a switch yet, but can deal with that later. Not sure I'll be adding any more electrical stuff to the bike, but appreciate the advice.

I'm getting estimates as we speak to have replacements manufactured in quantity for the broken H7 clip. We'll see where this goes. Maybe an inexpensive repair alternative for '05-'09 RT owners, and possibly other years as well. Hang on.....

So, the latest update on my quest.....

I received a replacement base plate and spring from Re-Psycle BMW Parts in Ohio (Highly recommended!!!) The H7 retainer came from some late model GT, and IS NOT an exact match. I guess these things are actually model specific. Learn something new every day. While I will be able to salvage the spring from the new one, the plate itself is slightly different. The low beams on out RT's have a shield that faces left. I'm told that this designates a US model, shielding the oncoming traffic from the light beam. The high beam in the center doesn't have this shield. While the bulb shield is removable and held on with 3 bent aluminum tabs, there are also 3 slots in the base, but they are in different positions comparing the RT to the GT. Photos below show the difference, with the RT on the left, and the GT on the right. Good news is, I've been dealing with Ian Smyth from R.I.G.S. Motorsports:

http://rigsmotorsports.com/

who has sourced me an exact match from a totaled R1200RT-P. His prices are great, quick delivery, and is an all around nice guy. Highly recommend him for parts as well.

Bulbs are back in, spring is replaced and plastic is almost all back together, pending receipt of a blue LED waterproof switch I ordered to manually power the oil cooler fan. One correction to original post---it is necessary to remove the windshield, arms and dash cover to remove the headlight assembly. And the 7 screws that the headlight attaches to the front cowling with are about 3 threads longer than all the rest of screws. Don't mix them up as I did.....all better

Got the assortment of clips from Ebay UK today. Don't bother ordering these. They're not even close.

So, the latest update on my quest.....

I received a replacement base plate and spring from Re-Psycle BMW Parts in Ohio (Highly recommended!!!) The H7 retainer came from some late model GT, and IS NOT an exact match. I guess these things are actually model specific. Learn something new every day. While I will be able to salvage the spring from the new one, the plate itself is slightly different. The low beams on out RT's have a shield that faces left. I'm told that this designates a US model, shielding the oncoming traffic from the light beam. The high beam in the center doesn't have this shield. While the bulb shield is removable and held on with 3 bent aluminum tabs, there are also 3 slots in the base, but they are in different positions comparing the RT to the GT. Photos below show the difference, with the RT on the left, and the GT on the right. Good news is, I've been dealing with Ian Smyth from R.I.G.S. Motorsports:

http://rigsmotorsports.com/

who has sourced me an exact match from a totaled R1200RT-P. His prices are great, quick delivery, and is an all around nice guy. Highly recommend him for parts as well.

I can confirm that the R1200RTs sold in Canada don't have this extra shield. They are Euro market models with the speedometer in KPH only.

Great write up BTW. Could be very useful in the future (Hopefully not.. )

Could be very useful in the future (Hopefully not)

Well put.

OK fellow dudes and dudettes. Below are photographs of the H7 bulb retaining springs I just had custom manufactured by a wire drawing company. I'm keeping a handful for myself for a rainy day, and am offering to sell these to you to repair any broken ones you have based on my little tutorial above, or to hang onto for future insurance. Trust me, these can't be had anywhere else. Lord knows I tried. They are identical to the OEM ones and are made of stainless steel. I had 50 made, and depending on the demand, I can get more, as the CNC programming, measuring and setups are all done, but there's always going to be a minimum quantity order.

The Admins told me to not run these in Classified. I am selling these at my cost in order to recoup the money I laid out for the minimum production quantity I had to have made, and I promise, I did get advanced approval of the Admin Team to do so.

They will cost $13.00 each ($10.00 for the spring + $3.00 for shipping & handling), which will include regular USPS postage, tracking and a protective envelope anywhere in the CONUS. Anyone overseas will just have to pay the difference to cover the shipping, customs, etc. You can order as many or as few as you want, but I only have 50 right now.

PayPal gift to me works, as the PayPal surcharge will end up actually making me lose money on this if I pay the 3%. I truly only did this as a favor for all of us, and am not at all interested in making a profit, but I also don't want to lose money.

If interested, send me a PM or e-mail me at Larry.Barasch@cbmoves.com, and we'll take care of all the details off the site.

Thanks and hope to hear from some of you.

Larry

Oh yeah, my PayPal address is also Larry.Barasch@cbmoves.com. So if you make the payment that way, please make sure you add your full name and mailing address either in an e-mail to me, or in the PayPal notes.

Thanks.

Last thing I should mention, I know for a fact these will work with 2005-2009 R1200RT's. I got one sample from a GT and one from my '09 RT and they were identical. Don't know about other years or models, but you're welcome to try.

hello YES !! want and need 2 , sorry I'm too dumm and stupid to use paypal, my name and address is

bill schimko

2233 radcourt drive

hacienda heights, ca. 91745

send me 2 , send me your return address, I SWEAR ON A STACK OF BIBLES, i'll slip 25 dollars cash ( or whatever the total amount comes to) in an envelope, mail ASAP !!!

No problem Bill. The stack of bibles is not necessary. I'm a trusting kind of guy They will go out in the mail either later today or tomorrow. Please don't send me cash. Tends to disappear. A personal check or Money Order will do just fine.

Thanks.

Bill,

The 2 spring clips just shipped out.

USPS tracking # 9114901230801226774287

ETA is Monday 2/9.

Follow my instructions above. A relatively easy job that took me about 1/2 hour. You will have to remove the headlight assembly from the bike to replace the clips. Be gentle when prying the pointy metal tabs off the metal bulb holder to remove it from the headlight housing. You don't want to break any of those plastic tabs. Also be gentle when bending those metal tabs back, so they grip the plastic nubs tightly.

A tiny screwdriver will come in handy to pry open up the hinge on the bulb holder, to replace the spring clip. You can bend the hinge slightly to adjust for height if need be. Before re-assembling, make sure the spring clip is oriented properly and not installed backwards. DAMHIK (Don't ask me how I know!)

Best of luck!

Larry

MUCH THANKS LARRY !!

My pleasure. Let me know when they arrive.

got them today !! THANKS, hope my check got there ?

hi larry, I got your email (no check), I fired off a reply but yahoo mail said unable to deliver ??, anyway, please forgive me for delay, I sent it to bay shore address , I'm leaving tomorrow for a ride and camp in death valley, returning sunday nite, if it's not there by then, i'll send another check, sorry, for this

I don't have a Yahoo e-mail address.

My e-mail address is:

Larry.Barasch@cbmoves.com

I'll let you know if it gets here in the next couple of days. Don't sweat the small stuff and have a good trip.

All orders I have received have been shipped. The balance of my supply was just sold to Mike at Beemer Boneyard. If anyone needs these in the future, please get in touch with Mike. Thanks a lot for all your support.

Larry

larry, just got back from death valley trip, if you still haven't received my check, I send another asap, SORRY FOR THIS DELAY !! my email is wfs19511@yahoo.com let me know which address to mail it to

Bill,

Your check arrived today. All is good.

Thanks!

hello, I'm in need of k1300r bulb retainer clip.

do you have one that would fit it?

thank you

For those interested, I do not have any more of these myself. I have them manufactured solely for re-sale to Mike at Beemer Boneyard. You can order them from him. Get a 10% discount by entering “BMWMOA” when you check out from his site.

Here they are:

https://www.beemerboneyard.com/r12h7bulbclip.html

Best,

Larry

Headlight assembly is just that easy to remove- 4 big t-30 bolts with rubber washers plus remove ground strap and disconnect antenna if present. Ground strap is t30 torx ( don't strip it with the t25 you'll have in hand from other fasteners) and will be tight and or corroded so get that thing out and on the bench and it will be easier to fix up your headlight clip for sure.