75 Brake Light Constant

[frenchyinspace]

Hi all,

This is my first post and first summer on my 75 xs650. I’m trying to wrench everything my self or at least be able to diagnose issues before bringing her into the shop.

My brake light indicator has come on and now stays on. I changed the bulb, which had a broken filament, but that didn’t solve the problem. I assume the bulb may have overheated and popped as now when I wire the light up, it gets hot pretty quickly.

To keep it short, I’m now trying to figure out if my bike has a brake lining wear light indicator wired into the rear drum brake. If so, would disconnecting that would allow me to operate the brake light normally and thereby rule out other electrical issues.

Brake wear indicator wire?

• frenchyinspace
• Aug 8, 2018

Here’s a picture of what I think might be the wire to the lining wear indicator.

Thanks in advance for your help,

 

[frenchyinspace]

 

[650Skull]

Check the rear brake switch............... A continuity test with the switch in between will tell you if it isn't cutting out............ A wiggle by hand and checking the idiot light.............

 

[fredintoon]

Hi all,

This is my first post and first summer on my 75 xs650. I’m trying to wrench everything my self or at least be able to diagnose issues before bringing her into the shop.
My brake light indicator has come on and now stays on. I changed the bulb, which had a broken filament, but that didn’t solve the problem. I assume the bulb may have overheated and popped as now when I wire the light up, it gets hot pretty quickly.
To keep it short, I’m now trying to figure out if my bike has a brake lining wear light indicator wired into the rear drum brake. If so, would disconnecting that would allow me to operate the brake light normally and thereby rule out other electrical issues.

Brake wear indicator wire?

• frenchyinspace
• Aug 8, 2018

Here’s a picture of what I think might be the wire to the lining wear indicator.
Thanks in advance for your help,

Hi frenchy and welcome,
it takes serious money to "bring her to the shop" and I doubt that the shop's technicians will have even heard of an XS650, let alone know how to work on it.
Buy the manual, get metric wrenches and JIS-point screwdrivers, use the list's 'search' feature and post questions here.
The brake light wear/warning indicator is not one of Yamaha's brightest ideas and was abandoned on later models, best you disconnect the thing.
I'm not clear what bulb is burned out, though. If the stop light itself was on all the time until it's filament burned out, one of your stop light switches
( it's usually the rear brake switch, btw ) is on all the time and needs to be adjusted. If it's the indicator bulb, disconnecting the system will fix it.

 

[5twins]

The spring on the brake rod looks really compressed. That tells me the adjuster nut is cranked on really tight. That will move the brake arm pretty far forward and that could be triggering the wear switch. Your brake arm may be incorrectly mounted on the splined pivot shaft. It might be one spline off. Correctly installed and adjusted, you really shouldn't see any more than about an inch of brake rod sticking out past the adjuster nut, and the spring shouldn't be all squashed up like yours is .....

That whole rear wheel assembly needs some serious T.L.C. from the looks of it, lol.

 

[650Skull]

Brake light, (stop lamp), and brake lining warning lights are 2 completely different systems.............So no, fixing and diagnosing a brake warning light system won't fix your brake light from being on all the time...................

Adding to my first post the front switch may not be disengaging. Again do continuity checks in conjunction with manual/physical checks. Cluste brake lights aren't usually on for more than a few seconds so if the power is constant these small bulbs may heat up, also check the contact of the bulb in the bulb holder for corrosion and a good earth/ground