I have a 2007 Night Rod. When I press the foot brake it won't illuminate the tail light. The hand brake illuminates it like it should, so I know that the light bulb is working. And the foot brake does brake correctly, just no light. I really don't know where to start on this thing. Any ideas?? Thanks.
It's the hydraulic switch that's located behind your exhaust. It'll look like this
If you follow the hydraulic line that comes from the pedal, follow it back down the frame and watch where it goes up. It'll go into that switch. The pressure of your pushing the pedal down is what activates the switch and completes the circuit to turn the brake light on.
It's the same on all (or at least most Harleys) so they'll have it at the dealership. Might be $10-15 or so. Gotta remove the exhaust to get to it but it's not a big deal.
If you need help with it give me a shout. I'm in Lafayette.
Your rear brake light switch is nestled behind the exhaust about half way back on the right side. Possibly it is bad or there is a wiring problem there. The wires run pretty close to the exhaust pipe and there have been problems with heat from the exhaust melting them.
The switch has two wires connected to it. You should be able to jumper the wires together to see if the lights work. If they do then the switch is bad.
Most auto parts dealers will have a replacement switch.
Here is a quote from another thread concerning replacement switches available from your auto parts dealer
From a NEPA native:
HD OEM 72023-51D
Accel 181101
Summit Racing ALM-181101
NAPA SL147SB
Neihoff WA627C
Borg-Warner S551
Excelsior Henderson 3199-058
Duralast RB401
Thanks for the feedback guys. I have located the switch. The wires look ok. If any of you have replaced this switch before, do you know if the brake fluid will leak out when I remove it? That's my only concern right now.
Yes it will leak and once you put on the new one, it is a good practice to bleed the brakes to remove any air bubbles. I have a 2007 VRSCDX and replaced the same switch a couple of weeks back.
Just make sure you have rags and some windex handy(to dilute the brake fluid if you spill any)...If you get the dot 4 fluid on your paint etc... it will do some damage pretty quick!!
Yeah the dot fluid will ruin paint. I was lucky to not have much come out of mine and didn't need to bleed the brakes after. I was totally expecting to have to.
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