Brake light always on - 1979 GS850

[natejelovich]

Any insights on why my brake light would always be on?

I've tried disconnecting both front and rear brake connections and it's still glowing like the brakes are on...

I've been working on my front brakes (long story in another post) and in the process, I broke the connector wires off the contact plate where the front brake light switch hit the little plate (does that make sense?).

I cut and stripped the wires to re-solder them back on to the plate but now my brake light is always on... so I'm holding off on doing that until I figure out why the light is on.

Again, even with no contacts (both brakes unplugged) it's always on.

I haven't done anything to the back brakes... so I'm guessing it must be something the front...

Any help, as ALWAYS, is very appreciated!!

Nate

[tkent02]

Something must be shorted somewhere, do you have a multimeter?

[Steve]

Check the wiring to the tail light. The tail light wire (brown) might have been inadvertently connected to the brake wire (white).

That would light the brake filament when the tail light is supposed to be on.

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[terrylee]

It's possible you may have gotten too much solder and it's making contact all the time. Go on ebay and you can get a new one for $10. terrylee

[barnbiketom]

Any insights on why my brake light would always be on?


I haven't done anything to the back brakes... so I'm guessing it must be something the front...
!

Nate

do not guess.. unhook the back brake switch and see what happens..

[natejelovich]

Thanks all! I'm going to see what I can find... Maybe take some pictures as well.

I'm wondering, could it be that something got too hot when I was trying to solder the wires and messed it up?

barnbiketom: I've tried disconnecting both front and back connections (see original post) and light is still on. Unless you mean something else?

old_skool: very strange! I hadn't changed (or touched) anything in the wiring except cutting and stripping the front brake wires when this problem started happening. It was working fine, until this... can't figure why the wires would be swapped now.

terrylee: the wires are currently cut and are not making contact with each other. Is there somewhere else I should be checking?

Steve: I'll check the wiring here. Thanks for the specifics (color)! Should it be though that the brake light is off and the tail light is on in this scenario and not both like what I am seeing?

tkent02: I don't... and that's what I'm afraid of. Might need to take in somewhere to have them take a look at the thing. The wiring system is not something I really want to mess with... it's kind of rat's nest...

[barnbiketom]

hmm.. i see now you had them both unhooked...oops sorry.. if you have the front and back brake switches UNHOOKED from the harness, it wouldn't matter if the solder job is faulty or not. they are unhooked and not even in the circuit now.

look at the bulb itself and make sure the filaments aren't bad/touching/broken inside the bulb. then take it out and make sure it's in correctly.. I've seen bulbs put in 180 degrees out, even when they have the bayonet pegs that supposedly index them only one way.

it seems a coincidence that this has occurred since your front brake problem?

also make sure the unhooked wires aren't touching anything of course.

[natejelovich]

Thanks barnbiketom!

I have no idea where to even start... I took a few pictures just to show what I'm looking at...

Disconnected (cut) front brake wires


Front brake connector


Rear brake connector


Brake light and tail light on though both front and back are disconnected


Kind of dark, sorry... running out of battery.

[cowboyup3371]

Unwrap your harness and make sure you don't have any bare wires touching someplace else. Your taillight and the main brake light wire runs through the harness from front to back. The rear just plugs into it.

[terrylee]

Large bulb has only one filament lit, which should be tailight, other filament should light up with brakes. Smaller bulb is for lic. plate. terrylee

[natejelovich]

Large bulb has only one filament lit, which should be tailight, other filament should light up with brakes. Smaller bulb is for lic. plate. terrylee

So you're saying the brake light bulb is dead... it's really that simple and I've missed it this whole time??

If so... any recommendations on where to get a replacement bulb? I checked out PartsShark and I am not seeing anything on the OEM parts fiche.

http://www.partshark.com/fiche_selec...141&x=138&y=33

Also, this is going to sound really amateur, but to replace the bulb, can I simply pull it out, or do I need to un-hook it somewhere? Reason I ask is that I've tried to pull on it to inspect it, but it doesn't come out very easily and I'm nervous to pull too hard and cause any more problems.

Thanks for your help!!

[Steve]

If so... any recommendations on where to get a replacement bulb? I checked out PartsShark and I am not seeing anything on the OEM parts fiche.

Just go to your favorite auto parts store and get an 1157 bulb.

Also, this is going to sound really amateur, but to replace the bulb, can I simply pull it out, or do I need to un-hook it somewhere?

Standard procedure is to push in (about 1/16"), twist to the left (about 30 degrees), then pull it out. If there is a lot of corrosion between the bulb base and the socket, it will be difficult, be careful that you don't break the glass and cut yourself. If you do break the glass, you can then use needle-nose pliers to grab the base to twist and pull.

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[Redman]

So you're saying the brake light bulb is dead... it's really that simple and I've missed it this whole time??

.
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No. Not what anybody is saying.
You have the brake switch wiring apart, so brake light should not be on, and it is not.


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Brake light and tail light on though both front and back are disconnected

.....

Ah, like others have said.
THat is not the brake light AND the tail light.

The upper bulb is the tail / brake light and has only one filimant lit up, not both filiments. One filiment is tail light, other filiment in same bulb is the brake light.

The lower bulb is the licence plate light (sometimes called tag light).

So, now reconnect the front and rear brake light switch and see that is still only one filiment in the upper bulb on. THen try each brake and see that the brake light comes on in addition to the tail light.

[terrylee]

What Redman and Steve said! terrylee

[natejelovich]

Brake light not working

Question now though is, what happens if I connect the wires (rear) and leave the front as they are, and the brake light is still not coming on? Do the front wires NEED to be connected to the plate in order for the brake light to work properly?

I've reconnected the rear brake light wires but the brake light is still not coming on. I've also reconnected the front brake light wires to the plate. Still, no luck on the brake light turning on.

So, I am thinking I have a bigger problem... Or, could it be the fuse?

As a side note, I haven't had any rear turn signals on the bike, but I did have them laying around. I was able to put them on before this issue and they would turn on. Now, however, I plug them in and not able to get any light from them either...