My headlight bulb retainer clip melted !

[MilleArp]

Here's a new one...

Last week I noticed my low beam was out.  Must be a burnt out bulb, right?  I was kind of surprised as I only have 24k on the odo, and those bulbs tend to last a long time.

Anyhoo, few days ago I finally had a chance to look into this.  I pop the rubber condom off the back of the low beam, and was going to unclip the retainer when I see a brown wire just dangling.     Well, THERE's your problem!     
But, then I noticed the one side of the retainer spring-wire clippy was dangling, broke, and was dark colored where the break was.     

Apparently my ground wire fell off, then managed to arc to the spring clip, melting it in half on the one leg!   

Now what???

I called the dealership.  They don't sell any bits or pieces of that assy, they only sell the whole headlight assy, for in teh neighborhood of $500-!!!   

Soo.... The headlight now sits on my workbench, and I'll be trying to figure out some sort of shade tree mechanic patch job.

Anyone else have this happen?  Check your headlight wires!!!

 
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[F.O.G.]

post a pic, as I remember it is just some fancy bent spring wire.  Several autos/MC use this system,a little scrounging in a junk yard should yield a suitable substitute.  It may need some alteration, but you should be able to make it work. 

[geothepencil]

Or..try various sized paper clips and a hand held wire former to make a clip. No former ?, then use small nails at the needed distances in wood. Good luck !

geo

[MilleArp]

I had a great solution using a small black binder-clip used for larger stacks of paper, with an ingenious way to keep it in place. 

However...

I tried for many MANY minutes to make my pics small enough for this forum to accept, and still be view-able, but I give up.  At present, my photochop programs are not very user friendly and I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out how to do a simple task of taking a great hi-res pic and making it into a postage stamp (that my old pc did very well and very easily, but this new one sux).

If I ever figure out how to make the pics uber super micro small enough for this forum to accept them, I'll post up.

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[MilleArp]

This forum's pic situation sux, go here, where I can upload a 2Mb pic w/o issue.

http://easttnriders.com/forum/showthread.php?p=522009&posted=1#post522009

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[Rev Z-Man]

i was able to fashion a brake pad retaining clip for my Audi allroad out of some stock wire hanger    maybe i can copy mine ... I'll let you know if I think i can do something.  it's just 90-some degree out and sticky right now.  yuck, after the rain!

[F.O.G.]

Picture sucked, I am away for a couple of days and will take a look at mine when I get home.  Might even have an old HL or 2 I can get a clip from.

[Babo]

I have a spring clip from a R1200GS. Let me know if you think you need it.

[Rev Z-Man]

i couldn't look at those pics