I have a 98 fxds .the problem I'm having is with my front brake lever.it has a little play in it causing the brake light too stay on.After reading a few tips Iplaced a small dot of thin rubber on lever an it solved the problem.Yesterday on the highway bike was running fine then it seemed as I lost all power,immediately pulled to the shoulder an you could smell the front brakes.After about 10 minutes it was running fine an rode it home.Today the front brakes sound as if they are rubbing.Any idea's?????

 

Sounds like a sticking caliper, remove and clean her up good, has the brake fluid ever been flushed?

 

no,after flushing , an cleaning calipers would that help the play in the lever?

 

yes, it should, remove the reservoir cover and check fluid level

 

Sounds like it's time to go over the entire bike and do a heavy preventative maintenance, in order to stop these types of problems. After all who wants to be down during riding season.

 

New too wrenching on my own bike, how do you flush the system????

 

Same thing happened to me, 2003 FXD with about 16K miles. Started with the brake light staying on, built up the lever a little and same thing. I'm guessing this caused the brake to be partly applied and as it heated up the fluid expanded causing the pistons in the caliper to extend and apply even more braking. This was very dangerous because when I pulled over to the shoulder I hit sand and the front end just skidded. I took apart and cleaned the calipers, changed the fluid and still was screwed up. Bought a rebuild kit for the Master Cyl and this cured all the problems, even the brake light works correctly with out the build up on the lever.