May 14, 2010 10:34 AM PDT
Ok getting me down, replaced the starter on my 99 fat boy, while waiting for the starter and while I had the bike apart i replaced the brake pads.
went to get it inspected when it was all back togehter and no brake light brought it home couldnt find anything obvious. bulb good, replaced anyway
nothing stamped on brake pedal and wel-ah brake lights. got it inspected and two days later no brake lights again. stamping doesnt work this time lol
any ideas for a fix????
May 14, 2010 10:38 AM PDT
Sounds like a dirty brake light switch.
May 14, 2010 10:39 AM PDT
Try spraying it with some contact cleaner. Has happened on my Boulevard a couple of times.
May 14, 2010 11:06 AM PDT
I agree, dirty or bad switch
May 14, 2010 11:37 AM PDT
The rear brakes do not light the brake? does the front brake lever light the brake light? If no to both questions then I would look at the electricial from the tail light to the connector under the seat! if yes to first question only fitst find the hydrolic pressurer switch near or on the rear masrer cylynder. test the electrical connection with a test light if test light does not come on you may have a bad pressurer switck or the rear brakes need bleed. If light comes on check wireing between switch and connector under seat. If you go to harley's web sight you can order a repair manual for your model which is the best way to referencs procedurers and diagrams that I have found good wrenching and ood luck to a real biker I always said if you can't wrench it don't ride it.!
does the brake light work when you squeeze the hand lever? if it works with the lever everytime, but not with the foot brake, yep, check the footbrake switch, clean and adjust.
get a new bike? lol sorry bad joke! hope this guys and or gals can help you!
May 14, 2010 10:26 PM PDT
My rear brake light went out last summer; front worked just fine. Did the bulb change, wire check and all but still nothing. finally pulled out the bible and did a little reading. Bought a new rear brake pressure switch for it and WaLa....Brake lights.
May 14, 2010 11:06 PM PDT
Does it work every time from the front lever?? If so then the problem is as others have said the rear pressure switch. If not then read on...
I had a weird problem similar to yours. I was having intermittent brake light from both hand and foot brake. My rear bulb socket actually melted (YEAH MADE OUT OF PLASTIC) and was making intermittent contact with the bulb. Since it is mounted low and difficult to see I missed this at first. Then I went to the brake relay. The brake relay and starter relay (Not the solenoid) are the same so I swapped them. Still no brake light so I put the relays back where they belong ( or so I thought) and still no brake light but now the damn thing won't start either. OK I decided it was time to go buy the electrical manual and stop guessing at what wires were for what. Once I had the schematic I figured out that I put the starter relay in the wrong way. OK now that is fixed, the bike starts again. Finally traced the problem to the bad bulb socket and once that was replaced all worked as advertised. So I suggest you look at the socket for either corrosion or general condition. Also if you can pull the connector off the rear pressure switch and jump the connections. If the light works every time then it is the switch.
May 14, 2010 11:08 PM PDT
Thanks all,
No- the brake light doesnt work with either the front hand brake lever or the rear pedal. The only switch I can find on the bike, is in line just behind the transmission case on the right side of the bike. It looks like a in line pressure switch. It also looks like its part of the brake line or all one piece with the line does anyone know if the whole line has to be replaced?
May 14, 2010 11:20 PM PDT
OK Since you are having trouble with BOTH I would hold off replacing the pressure switch right now. I HIGHLY suggest you get a schematic and see if there is a relay in the circuit. Since it fails from both front and back it is most likely something common to both thus the bulb, wiring, socket, relay or anything else common to both switches. (there is a small micro switch in the hand brake).
As for replacing the pressure switch you should not have to replace the line but you will have to bleed the brakes if you do replace it.
May 14, 2010 11:23 PM PDT
Do not know if the whole line needs replaced. I would double check the wireing or fuses since it worked pryor to starter replacement you could have pinched a wire or disconnected something by accident first and since the light does not work from either location i would concentrate my efforts on electrial not hydrolic. the pressurer or proximety switch is incorporated in the front master cylinder. get a wireing diagram and follow the giagram like a road map.
May 16, 2010 10:44 AM PDT
I know this sounds smart-assed, and normally I am but not this time. If it worked before and you worked on it and now it doesn't work, figure out what you screwed up.
May 16, 2010 11:22 AM PDT
Good advice all and thanks, as i told Rex go to back to basics, and dont trust your eyes I was using two bad bulbs to test the system, dragged out the multi meter and tested socket and then bulbs to discover even though the bulbs looked fine they were both bad, new bulb and wel- ah brake lights as embarrassing as that sounds it s how it went down, lesson relearned start with the simple stuff and use test equipment not the quick eyeball method, or maybe i need glasses.
Machime miniature indicator bulbs. one was 12 volt the other was 24 volt. My helper pulled the bulbs from the box and dumped them in the drawer. They looked the same with a single number on each. Burnt 24 before asking for help. I let him sort out the balance of 60 to seperate the two. Was bright for a short time. poof........... No fret we have all had bulb problems..
At least you did not. Spend big money first.
Experience is the best educator
Have done the same thing with blade type fuses before. Looked fine but didnt work !!
badinfluence