No brake lights ugh... Electrical CRAP

[drooker56]

I have been riding carefully with no brake lights. The tail lights work fine and I have only been riding in groups where people understand my hand signals. I can't figure these out I hookes everything back up as it was, I took a lot of pictures to be sure. Is there anyway to jerry rig them up. I also had to hotwire my headlamp after the fuse and put in a switch, the headlamp still did not work even after I bypassed the reserve lighting unit. I know something is wrong but my limited electrical knowlege is as usual letting me down.

[randy]

OK,

dumb question #1 - Are the bulbs good?

dumb question #2 - do you have the correct 2-element bulb in the socket? (#1157)

dumb question #3 - have you tried unplugging the switch(es) and shorting the harness wires together, simulating the switch operation, lights should light.

[Jerry]

Should start off with some advice: Either pick up a cheap meter ($8 - $10) or one of those 12 volt test lights ($4 - $5) to use in troubleshooting electrical problems. In this case a test light will work OK.

First, take off the tail light lens. Remove the bulbs. Hook the ground lead of the test light to a good ground, the - terminal of the battery works fine. Turn on the key. Put the probe of the test light on the silver contacts in the light bulb sockets, one at a time. Light should come on with one of the contacts. This is your running light circuit. You should get power on the other contact when you press the brake pedal or squeese the brake lever. If you do, problem is probably bad or incorrect bulbs in the sockets. Use #1157 heavy-duty dual-filament bulbs here. If you don't get power, continue on.

You have checked all the fuses, right? Better yet, you have changed out the fuse block because the original is a POS that will cause you untold grief as you try to track down electrical gremlins.... If you have the OEM fuses, use the light to make sure there is power crossing from one end of each fuse to the other. DO Not use the end of the fuse to check this; the 'fingers' that hold the fuses in place corrode and do not pass current into the wire. Poke the end of the test light into the wire or touch the 'fingers' to check for power across the fuses.

Again, for emphasis, if you are running the OEM fuse block, get rid of it. The fingers corrode and get stiff; they will break right off if you remove the fuse and squeese the them together. Fuses can look and be good and still not pass power due to these 'fingers' having gone bad.

Do a search using replacement fuse blocks to see that options others have gone to.

Once you know you have good fuses, it becomes a process of elimination. At each junction, check for power. if the fuses are OK then somewhere you have a break in the system. It could even be a bad ignition switch, rare but possible. Brake switches are not known to go bad, but they do make handy sposts to check for power in the system.

[DiverRay]

Brake switches are not known to go bad, but they do make handy sposts to check for power in the system.

I beg to differ with this opinion!!! I had BOTH brake switches go out on the "new" daily ride! I have replaced the front with a spare I had, but the rear still is NOT operational.
As Randy said, turn on the ignition and short the two wires from each brake light switch together. If the brake light works, the switch is bad.

[drooker56]

Ok, I only had a second to look at it today cause I have to work tonight but this is what I found.

1. Shorting the curcuit does not cause the lights to work.

2. test light does work with running light (running lights work fine).

3. correct bulbs are in place, I may change them anyway.

4. I have changed the fuse block.

I did not have time to check the terminals in the connector that will have to wait for tmrw. The problem is in the front and rear brake switch.

In previous threads I have read about how to make the blinkers blink with aftermarket blinkers and bulbs but can no longer find it. Could somone tell me this again?

[psycoreefer]

Once again I'm offering some help if you need it, I have a good test meter and I can usually figure my way around electrical stuff, PM me if you want to set something up.