Front brake light switch

[GrandpaDenny]

Is the front brake light switch normally a problem? I've gone through three in two and a half years; the latest one (NOS) went bad almost immediately. It clicks, but the contacts inside seem to be loose - takes some maneuvering of the leads to get it to work, and as soon as I let go it won't work again. I know it's not the harness - I put new terminals on in case that was the problem.

Any ideas?

[Molalla+Voyager]

Can you get an amp reading on the switch wire?
It should be south of 1 amp as it is triggering a relay, if it is higher you probably have a corrosion short heating the switch contacts and melting the housing plastic. Do the switch terminals feel hot when you hold them in position to make the brake light work?
Just spitballing here.
Hope this helps
Steve

[Nails]

Is the front brake light switch normally a problem?

There are two separate switches, one normally open (for the brake light) and the other normally closed (for the cruise control cancel). You should hear two clicks.

I found a lot of posts about this, mostly the CC part. Barry (somewhere in here) suggested douching it with contact cleaner. This is easier to reach if you take off the mirror "assembly", which is easier than it might look. This makes it easier to get the leads on right instead of, say, having the blade between the socket and the cover instead of in the socket right.

You can check these switches in situ: the brake part by seeing if the brake light comes on; the CC part by checking conductivity across a couple pins on the big plug to the CC module. See the CC diagnostics in the manual supplement (sticks in my mind this is page 15-8 or so). Of course, this second part requires taking the left fairing off.

The front brake switches have occupied way, way too much of my life. So I think, yes.

[triton28]

2 common reasons I have found for the dual switch to not work for one or the other functions are: 1) the lever set bolt may be too tight and not allowing the lever activating pad/face to fully depress the switch plungers; and 2) there is too much clearance between the bronze bushing pressed into the lever and the lever set bolt due to lack of maintenance lubrication of the lever set bolt in the bushing. This can also cause the activating pad/face to not fully depress the switch plungers.
If neither of the above is present and the switch doesn't work then probably corrosion of the internal contact points is most likely the cause as on the bottom cover plate of the switch there is what I suspect is a drain hole directly at the location of the front brake light switch internal contact points. This would allow ambient humidity/moisture to enter the contact point area. This hole also does allow contact cleaner to be injected directly onto the brake light contact point and plate, and indirectly onto the CC contacts as well. One can also see the CC contact point mechanism as it switches back and forth through this hole provided one has depressed the brake light plunger and uses a bright penlight to illuminate the interior while depressing the CC plunger.
I had one of these switches lose the bottom cover plate while I was riding and I did not know until I tried to use the CC and it would not work. Then when I stopped a bit later I discovered the missing bottom cover plate which has the "drain" hole in it. Of course by then all the switch internals were all over the roadways of Nova Scotia.
Just some thoughts,
Dave

[GrandpaDenny]

That's interesting, Dave. I'll take the switch off the bike and squirt some contact cleaner in there. I do hear two clicks, and the switch was brand new just a couple of months ago (Inflation - two months ago the switch was 18 bucks, now they're 47).