Quick brake switch question..

[qslim]

'84 GS1150ES: The front lever switch is grounding the brake light circuit all the time in the open position. I took the sucker apart, and I seem to remember on both of my other GSs there being a teensy eensy spring inside the switch. There isn't a spring inside this switch, and the fiche on bandit doesn't show anything inside the thing. Any ideas?

[steely]

On my '82 850GL the switch has that spring inside. On the new switch I ordered, the contact was all one unit. The plastic guide, the spring, and the copper contact were all assembled as one unit. The copper contact had ears to keep it from coming out of the plastic guide. I believe that this is the way that it came from the factory, but over time the guide gets worn allowing the spring to push the copper contact out. The part number on the contact for both bikes is 57465-18601. It is less than $3 at the dealership.

I could not get my front brake light switch to adjust properly, so I just replaced the whole thing. I haven't had a problem since.

[Steve]

You can replace it or you can take the spring out of the clutch switch. Of course, now that the clutch switch does not have one, it won't work, but you can bypass that one by disconnecting the leads in the headlight bucket.

This also means that now your bike will start without pulling in the clutch. \\/


.

[twr1776]

I just did mine, all you should need is the contact. It is about $ 3. I just cleaned the switch with contact cleaner and put a little dielectric grease on the switch and the contact, reassembled and it was good to go. The only PITA part is getting the contact to stay up in the brake lever housing while putting the cover back on. I put a little grease on the back of the contact and it stuck to the lever long enough to get the cover back on.

[GoFast]

While you guys are on the subject...
The brake light on my 81GS1100 is on all the time. I've traced everything being OK between the bulb and the spring on the brake pedal. I tried loosening the tension on that spring but the bulb still stays on.

I'll look into the front lever switch tonight, but are there any more things I should look at in the meantime as potential reasons for the bulb staying on?

Graeme

[salty_monk]

The sprung contact was all busted up in mine plus the contacts on the circuit board are pretty worn too so I invested 15 bucks in a new assembly....

GO FAST, once you take the screws out the housing & board will drop away & it will be easy to see whether it is that. Only other thing it can be is the rear switch, see if it has easy motion when you disconnect the spring but go for front first.

Other than that all it can be is a dodgy rewire or two wires that have shorted somewhere in the circuit.

Dan

[GoFast]

Thanks Salty,
Well I removed the front switch, it dropped away and the brake light remains on. The rear switch spring is loose enough that it is not pulling on the pin, light still remains on.

Does this mean the result is likely shoddy wiring somewhere? I'm going to run through the wiring to see if I can find anything...