Help, brake light not showing up?

[Anonymous]

I had posted some questions toward the end of last season about some brake light problems. Now I've got a new one, I bought a new bulb from my local dealer, when I activate the brakes the light isn't visible. The tail light is on but I can't descern a difference between it and the brake light. I took the tail light cover off and sure enough the second filliment is lighting up but doesn't show through the lens.
Any Ideas? I'm itching to get back on the road.

[Joe Nardy]

Is the second filament lighting ONLY when the brakes are applied or all the time?

Joe

[Anonymous]

the second filament only comes on when the brakes are applied.
that was my first thought also.

[gremlin]

check and see if you have the right light bulb. some are 24v insted of 12volt.

if you have the right bulb clean all the wires to the bulb. probly a bad connection lowering the volts or amps to the bulb.

[daveo]

does this happen with both the hand lever and the foot peddle? the hand lever switch sucks and does fail..... they are adjustable to an extent(slides fore and aft), you could try cleaning the contacts inside, make sure one of the wires isn't broken off at the contact plate. The clutch interlock switch is interchangeable with the brake switch, if you want to try swapping them, or get a hydraulic switch that replaces the banjo bolt coming out of the master cylinder

[earlfor]

Re: Help, brake light not showing up?

Of the two elements in the bulb, the dim one is the tail light element and the bright one is the brake light element. Are you sure you dont have your wiring connections reversed resulting in the tail light circuit lighting the brake light element?

Earl

I had posted some questions toward the end of last season about some brake light problems. Now I've got a new one, I bought a new bulb from my local dealer, when I activate the brakes the light isn't visible. The tail light is on but I can't descern a difference between it and the brake light. I took the tail light cover off and sure enough the second filliment is lighting up but doesn't show through the lens.
Any Ideas? I'm itching to get back on the road.

[Anonymous]

Now I've got a problem like this. One side of the brake switch is at 12 volts and the other side is at 6!? Does anybody know what could be going on here? I've read the schematics but the brake lights are controlled by the Console and Self-Cancelling unit. I would like to get everything working again but I may just rewire the brake lights to work independantly.

Steve

[argonsagas]

Best bet for both you and Steve is to check the connections all along the way. You have dirt or looseness somewhere in there, (or several somewheres in there).....or both.

Dirt translates into resistance, and that is almost certainly causing a voltage drop.

[Anonymous]

You're right Ron, after much testing and jiggling I got the brake light to work. Once I put the headlight back in the brake light stopped working, after another hour of jiggling I got it to work. I had to jury rig the tail light to run off of the license light but that's just for tomorrow. I need it all to work for the safety tomorrow morning, then I can fix it properly.

Steve