Hey, I have a 2005 600RR. I noticed the other night that when i used my rear brake it didn't illuminate the rear brake light. The front still does of course, but not the rear. I checked for any wires that could have come loose but I didn't see any. Anyone had this problem before? If anyone could tell me how to trouble shoot it myself i'd really apreciate. Thanks

 

How did you check for loose wires? Did you actually take off the rear cowl and check the brake light connector? Try checking your rear brake pedal adjuster, maybe it's off a bit.

 

Hey whats up man, I'm to the site and the whole bike thing, but i have little experience in the mechancle field. On your rear brake pedal their is a spring that controls the switch for the rear brake take a look at your spring to see if its even their or if it fell off. When I first got my bike everything worked but when i took to the inspection station i failed for the rear brakes inop. I guess from unloading off the trailer or my foot hitting by accident knocked that spring off. Its an easy check.

 

Maybe I can help you out a little. I'm not Duhamel's Tech, but...I have Vortex adjustable rearsets on my bike, which takes a "brake pressure switch" if you want the brake light to work with the rear brake "lever". It's basically the same exact thing as what they call a "banjo bolt" (a.k.a. "brake light switch"). There's a wire(s) that run from underneath the tail, that runs to a "switch" that's on your right side peg/rear brake lever. That "switch" is your banjo bolt (it's a pretty corny *** name for a bike part, but, it's like a bolt, with wire's running out of it, which connects to the wire's running from underneath the tail). If it's still connected, do your turn signal's work? You can go to any dealer and get one for about $10-$20. The only problem is, you have to bleed the rear brake system. It's as simple as doing your basic math, but if you're not familiar with bleeding brake's, etc., then take it to a dealer and have them do it. Just tell them that you need a banjo bolt installed. That way they don't try f**king you out of more money by doing a complete brake system job or something. Anyways, I hope that this helps you out a little, and I hope that I didn't confuse you any. If you have anymore questions, etc., just ask, there's alot of cool *** people on here, I'm sure that one of us can help you out!

 

I agree with you on that if its not working the brake switch is bad, that wouldn't suprise me. But I dont want this guy buying parts that aren't needed. I usually try to diagnose the problem. An easy check to see if the switch is bad is check to see if you have power and ground at the switch. And then with the switch closed see if you have power leaving the switch, But that spring is a quick check just because that same thing happened to my 03 600RR. I'm sure he'll get it fixed.

 

I am an electrician and my suggestion for you would be to do the easiest checks first...Pull the light bulb and see if it is burnt...first...If the bulb is good chances are you have a loose wire...it is rare but can happen to have a microswitch go bad...Like I said it is rare but it happens. If all wires are good...Find someone that is good with a multimeter next to see if you have power going to the light bulb.. You may even have a grounded housing for the bulb. I wouldnt go buy a bunch of parts until you can figure out what the actual cause is,, that can get expensive, and to save alot of time, if the bike is under warranty still, bring it back to the shop and have them check it for you...

 

The rear brake light switch is behind your right rearset. You will see a spring going down to your brake pedal. Follow this spring up to where it attaches to the "plunger" on the rear brake switch. You will see a large, threaded, plastic shaft with a plastic nut around it that is inserted into a ring. Tighten the nut to bring the rear brake switch up. This reduces the freeplay in the spring, engaging the rear brake light switch sooner. This is something that happens normally, which is why the rear switch is adjustable. Before doing this, pull on the spring just to make sure your brake light is working.

 

First off i'd like to thank all you guys for the quick replies and great deal of info you gave me. I went checking for the brake switch on my bike and found out its not there. There was no wire coming down from the tail-section/seat. So I popped some plastics off and found the brake switch level zip tied behind the black side plastic. Why is was there I have no idea. Must have been the previous owner, so I'm emailing him to find out just why he did it.
I'm not sure if I have all the pieces to hook it back down to the rear brake lever. I'm including pictures of what i found so hopefully someone will be able to tell me what piece i need to hook it back. Thanks again everyone