brake switch caught fire..

[Winddancer]

Has anyone ever had their rear brake switch catch on fire??
my instrument panel went dead again as I was riding home, so when I got back I pulled the faux tank,
put in a new fuse and started the bike and then started wiggling wires to see why the fuse kept blowing..
I started to smell a burning wire smell so I shut off the bike and started sniffing around trying to find it.
When I went to the right side of the bike and started sniffing and going down along the battery I saw flames coming from my brake switch..
I tried to blow it out, but it wouldn't go out, so I ran in the house grabbed a cup of water and dumped it on the switch..
I have no clue how or why this happened, and would really like to figure it out, so I can keep it from happening again..
thanks..

[gearheadfla]

It's that darn car tire, they said we would bust into flames Must have been a shorted switch is all I can think of, never heard of it happening before on a bike, but cars have been recalled for things like that, I would just replace the switch and inspect the harness going to it for damage and repair as needed.

[k7nutN7nut]

WOW!!!
If it were a car, it would be know as a "car-B-Q"

But seriously, no, I have not encountered that issue. But, your on the right path IMHO. There's only 2 things I could think of to start that...
Heat, from friction or
an electrical short!?
You need an OHM meter, pull that fuse, one end in the brake switch side, other end of meter to ground and start wiggling/checking the wire. fortunately the fuse was doing it's job and saved the rest of your electronics.
I'm thinking, if the switch, down by the brake pedal(assuming you mean rear)was on fire, the short should be there, the short had to ignite it?
Pull your switch and check the wires going right into it.

[Winddancer]

Damn it.. they were right, I did burst into flames...
here is a picture of the switch..
it also melted the rubber boot on the brake piston, hopefully it is replaceable.
need to go look that up..

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_ ... directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6 ... directlink

[gearheadfla]

Yep, extra crispy. Call Carl

[k7nutN7nut]

Like he said^^^^...extra crispy!

If you need some replacement parts Chuck, I have a "parts bike"(2000) I got my 2000 going from, let me know, we can work something out?

Geoff

[Lucasind]

well that's one way of locating that darn fuse blowin short circuit !!

[tinsailor]

Ain't never seen nuthin like that

[Mr Jensee]

My guess is that somewhere close to the switch a wire has ground itself against the frame. That blew the fuse. If you put in a heavier duty fuse then the grounded positive wire began over heating and started to burn. I learned that lesson on my old GS1000.

[Turbo4x4]

Looks like a failed mob hit

On a more professional level, I noticed that you live in Massachusetts, and from your pictures, I noticed the heads of some of the bolts adjacent to your brake switch appear to have a more than normal amount of corrosion on them. So, I will throw this out for discussion; I suspect your fire may have been caused by one of the following.... 1) If you live near the ocean, a build up of salt or salt corrosion created a short across your switch, or 2) Since Massachusetts uses lots of salt on the road over the winter, and this is so early in the riding season, I might suspect there was a high level of salt residue left on the road. If any of the roads you rode were wet or even damp, it could also have created your short.

I'm stick'n with the failed mob hit though