Brake Light Stuck "On"
Brake Light Stuck "On"
The brake light on my 95 FXDWG is stuck "ON" . I pulled the 2 wires on the rear switch on the line and the light was still on. But I did notice when I pushed the brakes the light wants to get a little brighter but its still on full. Any other ideas? The dealer said front switch and that it is soldered into the control somewhere and that it would be $100 for them to fix it $30 switch $70 labor.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 7,736
Likes: 1,524
From: Coromandel Peninsula New Zealand
Often its the lever worn out where it pushes against the switch to turn it off....test it as follows:
Remove front brake lever, look inside where lever came out for little black rubber booted switch. Push switch, if brake light goes out then either put a big blob of epoxy resin over the part of the lever that pushes on switch or have a blob of ally weld put on.
File the blob so switch goes out but brake isn't binding.
If dealer says "Switch is soldered in to control somewhere" take your bike to an indy that knows what they are talking about.....
Remove front brake lever, look inside where lever came out for little black rubber booted switch. Push switch, if brake light goes out then either put a big blob of epoxy resin over the part of the lever that pushes on switch or have a blob of ally weld put on.
File the blob so switch goes out but brake isn't binding.
If dealer says "Switch is soldered in to control somewhere" take your bike to an indy that knows what they are talking about.....
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 3,949
Likes: 150
From: South of Mordor
Often its the lever worn out where it pushes against the switch to turn it off....test it as follows:
Remove front brake lever, look inside where lever came out for little black rubber booted switch. Push switch, if brake light goes out then either put a big blob of epoxy resin over the part of the lever that pushes on switch or have a blob of ally weld put on.
File the blob so switch goes out but brake isn't binding.
If dealer says "Switch is soldered in to control somewhere" take your bike to an indy that knows what they are talking about.....
Remove front brake lever, look inside where lever came out for little black rubber booted switch. Push switch, if brake light goes out then either put a big blob of epoxy resin over the part of the lever that pushes on switch or have a blob of ally weld put on.
File the blob so switch goes out but brake isn't binding.
If dealer says "Switch is soldered in to control somewhere" take your bike to an indy that knows what they are talking about.....
Eitherway, what Spanners said should work for you. If you remove the lever you will see the button/switch. You could superglue a thin piece of plastic to the tip of the switch, that is what I did and it worked out great.
Hope you are able to get this resolved, good luck.
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
From: Mystic, Ct
The blob on the lever worked on my Sporty when I had the same problem. When my Dyna brake light started doing the same thing I tried the blob again. this just caused my brake to start binding as it heated up, very dangerous pulling over on a sand covered shoulder. Turned out this time my Master cylinder needed to be rebuilt. Kit from Dealer wasn't to expensive. Just cleaned real good and installed new gut's. Works great now. 2003 Superglide with about 16,000 miles
Here's some info on the brake switch from an older post:
Have you been working on the grips lately? If so, the wedge (spring clip) inside the switch housing which holds the brake switch in place could be the problem...
If you open up the housing and try to operate the micro switch check if there is a response from the brake/taillight.
The switch is located as shown in image 2 (p/n 2). Try to adjust the switch's position by bending out the wedge.
Here's how the brake activates the switch:
The pin on the lever (see image 1 p/n 1) pushes the plunger into the brake cylinder when squeezed... at the same time the brake switch which is mounted through the hole (image 2 p/n 3) is being released.
Could be the switch has been damaged. When you work on the brake side follow these instructions:
When you want to take off the lever from the handlebar and insert a piece of 4mm cardboard, the lever is pulled in a little allowing the pin to come off the brake switch's rubber cap. Now the lever can be removed without snagging this rubber cap.
When you re-install the lever, insert the cardboard as well and insert the lever as shown in image 3....
If you do a search for brake switch in the Dyna Models section you'll find some more threads on this subject....
If you open up the housing and try to operate the micro switch check if there is a response from the brake/taillight.
The switch is located as shown in image 2 (p/n 2). Try to adjust the switch's position by bending out the wedge.
Here's how the brake activates the switch:
The pin on the lever (see image 1 p/n 1) pushes the plunger into the brake cylinder when squeezed... at the same time the brake switch which is mounted through the hole (image 2 p/n 3) is being released.
Could be the switch has been damaged. When you work on the brake side follow these instructions:
When you want to take off the lever from the handlebar and insert a piece of 4mm cardboard, the lever is pulled in a little allowing the pin to come off the brake switch's rubber cap. Now the lever can be removed without snagging this rubber cap.
When you re-install the lever, insert the cardboard as well and insert the lever as shown in image 3....
If you do a search for brake switch in the Dyna Models section you'll find some more threads on this subject....
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 38,456
Likes: 6,377
From: Honah Lee
The brake light on my 95 FXDWG is stuck "ON" . I pulled the 2 wires on the rear switch on the line and the light was still on. But I did notice when I pushed the brakes the light wants to get a little brighter but its still on full. Any other ideas? The dealer said front switch and that it is soldered into the control somewhere and that it would be $100 for them to fix it $30 switch $70 labor.
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Sep 14, 2018 at 10:28 AM.
Thank you all for the great info and help with this. I will have a look at it soon as I get a day off. Thanks again!
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6th Gear
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Did you do any work on the bars and pull the brake lever off. if you did not put that piece in the brake the manual calls for then you broke off the nipple on the micro swith. if thats the case then get a small srcew that will fit in the hole that is now there from the broken piece and srcew it in and the head for the screw will act as the nipple. it happen to me and that what fix i did. it works and cost about 4 cents for the small screw
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No I have not touched the grips or anything. I just bought it with this problem. I got it from a guy who had it sitting for awhile tucked away covered up in the garage. He literally uncovered it for the first time infront of me. I will try the screw trick! Hope that works! Thanks for the ideas!