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rear brake light stays on

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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I just noticed this today. My rear brake light on my 1980 GS550e has been staying on as if i were pressing the brake. Nothing happens if i press the rear brake but if i squeeze the front break and let it go slowly it flickers up and down and if i hold it in the middle it seems to dim back to normal brightness. Anyone know what this could be or what I can do to troubleshoot? Thanks all!!
 
I'd check to see if the switch is stuck and if not start looking at the wiring.
 
The switch needs to be cleaned / adjusted LOCATED underneath the front master cylinder
 
Yes. The front brake switch is the one acting up on you.
I recently had to replace mine.

It looks a little like this.

O ====

The lines have a little more space between them but you get the idea.
The circle part is a little plastic base that the brass contact in the brake lever sits on when the brake light is off. When you squeeze in the brake lever the contact slides from the circle-base onto the two metal lines/contacts and that makes the brake light come on.

When your switch baseplate with the circle and metal contacts begins to fall apart you get the symptoms that you are experiencing. What happened to mine is that the two contact lines in my switch started seperating from the little motherboard they sit on and were moving up and down and all around instead of sitting in place. There was no way to fix it besides either regluing the board that the contacts sit in or simply replacing the switch.

I decided to replace the switch and got a new replacement for 10 dollars at the salvage yard. The switch is screwed into the right hand bracketry for the brake and the master cylinder.

**************** Be careful not to lose the brass slider/contact and the spring that sit inside the brake lever. They are VERY prone to falling out and disappearing when you take the screws out of the switch housing!!!***************

The connections are in the headlight bucket so you will have to remove the headlight to get at the connectors. Make sure that the replacement you get has the same connectors as your old broken switch!!! The first replacement I got off of another bike had a male and female connector instead of the two female connectors I needed. 8O

After getting the correct parts it's as simple as connecting up the new switch to the underside of the master cylinder and plugging it into the wiring harness in the headlight bucket.

:D
 
Thanks guys. I took out the 2 screws and gave it a look. it just needed a good cleaning. Thanks again!!! situation RESOLVED!!!
 
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