Tail lights are ok but brake light not working?

[llcostalonga]

Hi guys,

Sorry for the stupidity of the question but can someone give me a hand on that? My tail lights are working fine but not by break lights for either the front and rear brakes..meaning that are not the sensors. As far as I know, the tail light and the brake lights share the same bulbs, right? So the bulbs are ok too. I could not find any fuse specific for the brake lights but I've checked anyway and they look fine. Am I missing anything?

Cheers,
Leo

[greywolf]

Usually this means the rear brake light switch is mis-adjusted and the brake lights are on all the time. Check by moving the top of the coil spring connection to the brake pedal up and down at the switch.

[Newfoundlander]

The brake/tail lights are two element bulbs. One element can fail independently of the other.

Replace the bulb or bulbs.

12v 21/5w x 2

[Hojo]

Isn't there two bulbs back there, and I doubt both would go out at the same time.  I too would double check that the brakes aren't actually ON and you don't realize it.  This happened to a friend after he adjusted the foot brake pedal and didn't notice it during the day, not until he started up his bike in the dark did he realize the brake lights were ON.

[Newfoundlander]

Quote:

Isn't there two bulbs back there, and I doubt both would go out at the same time.

Yep, there are...(12v 21/5w x 2)

But since the brake lights won't light when the front brake lever is pulled either, replacing the bulbs is a simple enough possibility to rule out, however unlikely.

Worst case scenario...

You've spent five bucks and end up with two spare bulbs in your toolbox.

[Preload]

Have you had a chance to see what is wrong Leo  I think Pat (Greywolf) is onto something with his comment. Since your bike has been over twice recently, I wonder if the rear brake switch has been disturbed and is stuck in the on position.

But in addition, check the wiring to the connectors on the front brake switch too. It wouldn't come as too much of a surprise to me if the rear brake switch has been not working for a while and maybe requires adjustment + the front brake switch wiring has been knocked off the terminals recently.



Mark

[llcostalonga]

Hi Preload,

You and Greenwolf were right! It was the sensor stuck... A little adjustment was enough. Not sure if it was cause by the drops since the crash bar and the foot-step protects that area. Anyway...sorted!

Thanks guys!
Leo

[Preload]

Quote:

llcostalonga wrote on 30.11.2008 16:03[/i] Hi Preload, You and Greenwolf  were right!

Spot on Leo, glad that is sorted. All credit to Greenwolf though lol. Hey at least he spells it correctly

Mark

[llcostalonga]

Oops....sorry Grey...slightly Green..Wolf!

Leo

[savvy]

okay, this is the closest answer to my search.   my brakelight comes on with the rear brake foot pedal but does not come on  with the front brake lever.   it clicks but no brake light.  any suggestions. my bike is an 03 with intermittent low beam probs til i soldered the connector on the left fairing. my problem was warning other people on the road that there was a speed trap(you know, flicking from high to low beam), the strom is apparently a police friendly bike.   that was actually the second time the low beams cut out.  the first time i just sprayed wd40 on the connectors behind the rad and the low beams came on. of course it only happened when over 700 km from home.    i suspect it's a similar type of problem.  there is  over 85,000 kms on the bike and it's getting a little crotchety but i love working on it.

[johnofchar]

Sounds like it's time for you to do some cleaning and/or replacing. The connectors that will cause most problems are the two behind the radiator that go to both handlebar switches & the ones in the left fairing, as you know. These need to be cleaned up well or replaced or the effected pins replaced. Jim can probably fix you up with connectors & pins. Sometimes the left handlebar switch itself can have problems.

After all is repaired, go with one of Jim's H4 relay kits to get the major load off the connectors.

For the brake switch problem, it's either the switch (test with ohmmeter), the switch connector is loose or bad, or the connector behind the radiator for the right handlebar switch has problems.

[savvy]

thanks, i'm suspecting the connectors behind the rad.

[savvy]

okay, i drove the rest of the summer without the front brake lever triggering the brake light.   it kind of made me use the back brake all the time which i guess is a good habit to get into but i'd still like to get it working.    i've just finished a valve adjust and had good access to the connectors behind the rad.  there was continuity when hooked up to the B/BL and B/R while pulling the front brake lever, so that's fine.   then i hooked the ohm meter up to the corresponding O/G and W/B on the other side of the connector(behing the rad) and there was resistance but not infinite.  so i assumed it was the connector. next i cut the O/G and W/B wires and twisted them together, which should be the same as the front brake lever being pulled and the brake light did not come on when i turned on the ignition.    the question is how could i have had a circuit with resistance(ie not a broken circuit) if the wires going to the brake light were intact.      please any suggestions or critique of faulty reasoning would be appreciated.
thanks,
mike

[johnofchar]

How much resistance?

Was there voltage at the O/G wire?

[savvy]

there was 10.5v at the O/G versus 11.5v at the battery(not a great voltmeter) so this time with the ignition on and shorting the O/G and the BW/B the brakelite came on.   but when i closed the circuit that goes up to the brake lever it didn't work.    i might have an intermittent problem now or there is something between the bypassed connector and the front brake lever?   the only other connector that isn't hooked up is the fan motor as the rad is still off the bike.

[johnofchar]

I may be reading something wrong, but if you have good continuity from the connector through the switch, it works by applying voltage to the white/black on the other side of connector & the connector has high resistance, then the problem is the connector.

[savvy]

i think so too but when i bypassed the connector, maybe twisting the wires together temporarily wasn't a good enough connection to complete the circuit.  i'll sauter them today after work and see if that works.    i might bypass all the wires in the connector.  this bike's got a lot of miles on it and i've already bypassed the headlite wires behind the left cowling.  thanks alot.

[johnofchar]

If there is good voltage always on the O/G wire then check ohms between the white/black wire & the white/black wire at the rear brake switch connector.

[savvy]

Thanks, i'll try that.