| Author | Message | ||
     Drhach |
Ok, here's something I've never seen. Hopefully someone can chime in on this. My brake light sticks on when I either apply the brake a few times or apply it firmly. It does it front and rear and with the front or rear brake switches disconnected. Also, if I turn off the key and turn it back on, the brake light will be off, but it will stick again. Under the above conditions. I tried wiggling the key and it didn't fix it. I'm kind of leaning towards something in the tail light assembly. That seems to be the common thing given that it happens for both brakes. Anyone seen or experienced this before? | ||
| 2003xb9r |
Assuming it's your S3 with twin bulbs. Is there a stop light relay on your bike? It could have sticking contacts. Also check the bulb holders haven't got the tail and stop connections extremely close that they may touch together sometimes with vibration. It could also be an internal short in the filaments in one of the bulbs. Seen this lots of times where one filament drops down across the other. Maybe also chaffed wiring but the possibility of a sticking relay would be my first point of inspection. | ||
| Drhach |
Thanks, it's a 1998 S3. I didn't think it had a relay for the brake light. I looked at the schematic and it doesn't show one. Although it also doesnt show a dual bulb tail light. It clearly has two bulbs though. Dan (Message edited by Drhach on November 11, 2018) | ||
| Ratbuell |
Take one bulb out, and try to duplicate. Say...the left bulb. If it sticks, you might have found the problem. Put the left bulb back in, and take out the right bulb. Try again and see if it sticks. If it doesn't, it's the left bulb and/or socket. (or vice versa, if the left bulb sticks and the right one doesn't). To further narrow down, take the physical bulb that didn't stick, and put it in the socket that did stick. That will tell you not only which socket...but also which bulb. I assume you have disconnected brake switches one at a time? Your OP makes it sound like the lights would spontaneously turn on even with both switches disconnected... | ||
| Drhach |
Wow! That was the dumbest thing ever. I switched lights and the problem moved to the other side. I thought there were two circuits one for the bulb on the left (lights) and one for the bulb on the right ( brakes). I guess not. When I took out the offending bulb, the second dimmer light lit up with the brakes and turned off as it should.I put in a new 1157 bulb in place of the oddball and it all works. Obviously that bulb was not dual filament and the wrong bulb. Good times. Thanks for the suggestions. I was about to go down a bad road. Dan | ||
| Ralph |
Occams razor. | ||
| Drhach |
Yes indeed! it sucks that I have to relearn that. But there it is. Also, challenge your assumptions. | ||
| Ratbuell |
While you're in there, you might as well drill out the holes where the lens screws attach the lens. I went all the way through the black plastic, clear to over top of the tire, and used some lonnnnnng skinny bolts with nylock nuts and washers on the end. The screws like to strip the plastic out, then you lose your lens. And, they're not as simple to replace as you'd think. Old Ducati part, can still be found if needed...but an ounce of prevention... I'd also replaced my light source with the LED board out of a broken Ulysses taillight, so I never needed access to it again. Even so, the nut-and-screw only required one extra tool to remove if needed. |
