When I pull the rear brake lever the brake lights dont come on? Any clues to why, any ways I can troubleshoot this and figure out why myself? The lights still blink when you pull the turn signal so i dont think the bulbs are the problem. Kindof at square one right now with ideas.

 

On the rear brake, there is the plunger which has the wire going up to the center. This has an open adjustment nut on it. It could be possible, that when you depress your rear brake lever down, this pressure switch isn't making contact, due to the adjustment. Sorry, but I can't remember the technical names for the plunger/ pressure switch.

 

I dont think its that, because when i pull the brake lever it makes a clicking sound like a microswitch is being activated, so that should turn on the lights. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

i would still start with the switch also, just because you hear it does mean its working, put a meter or test light on it.

 

Lol, i'd need someone out here to help me test it cuz I have no clue what i'm doing really with the bike or what i'm trying to test anyways. Or maybe a detailed writeup of a troubleshoot for the brakes? I just know that the turn signal lights work fine and i thought that the turn signals and the brakes were all hooked thru the same system.

 

Not familiar with na '01 F4i, but aren't the turn signals entirely different bulbs? Unless you have an integrated light, I would think they are. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Either way, just go buy a $5 tester and start at the bulb connection and work your way down the line

 

I think I know exactly what it is. It happened to me and I could find out what it was, but I did after awhile of hunting. Behind the brake lever there is a small spring that is hooked to a little thing that pulls down when the brake is depressed and triggers the rear brake light. That spring after awhile can wear out and stretch and not pull down that thing for the brake light. If you take the spring off and bend the end alittle it will work great, thats what I had to do. Look for that spring and before you take it off pull it down and see if the brake light comes on and if it doesnt, then I dont know what else it could be besides a fuse.

 

I have a fender eliminator kit so it is integrated into the tail lights. It's probably a switch somewhere. What kind of tester would i need? I'm not very familiar with electrical system stuffs so this is all new to me.

 

Does the brake light work with the foot pedal? That would give you some hints where to start troubleshooting right off the bat. You should be able to get a tester at just about any hardware store or home improvement place... maybe even Wal-Mart but I don't know for sure about that because I've never looked for them there.

You can get a really cheap one like this (like $1.50)


One not quite as cheap like this (less than $10)


or a multi-meter like this (starting around $10 and go up from there)


Just touch the black lead to ground and the red lead to where power should be. Pull the brake lever to make the brake light come on. If you're using a tester and it works, the the light on the test will light. If your using the meter, make sure it is set to 12 volts and see if the meter moves to indicate it's receiving power.
If it were me and this was my first time trying to track something like this down, I would get the middle tester, the one that looks like an ice pick. Connect the alligator clip to the frame somewhere and touch the pointy tip to where there should be power. Test it somewhere you know works first to make sure you have a good ground connection. Once you can make the tester light come on, you know you are good to go searching for the problem.

I always start at the end of the circuit.... I don't know why, that's just what I do. In your case, I'd start at the tail light. Turn on one of the blinkers and connect the tester as described above. The tester light (inside the handle) should come on every time your blinker blinks. Once you have verified the tester is working and connected properly, you're ready for your search. If it doesn't work at the brake light, then just start searching. You can either work your way back slowly down the line or jump back to the beginning of the circuit, then the middle, etc. Once you find a spot where you are getting power, you're just going to have to trace it down to where the power is getting interrupted and then you'll know what the problem is (for instance it works on one side of the switch, but not the other, then you know the switch is bad).

You should be able to do at least some general testing without too much trouble. If the problem is a pinched/broken wire somewhere in the middle of the bike, it could be quite a pain to track it down and I would suggest you have a shop manual with wiring diagrams so you know where the circuit goes.

Hopefully it's something simple and fairly easy to track down, but just know that sometimes tracking down an electrical gremlin is harder than finding Osama Bin Laden.