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[sygibson]

Hey all - I have an '08 FXSTSSE2 (Softail Springer).  The rear center brake light is no longer working, the running light does.  Long ago I installed the Custom Dynamics Run/Brake/Turn LEDs in the rear bullet housing; and these are showing Brake/Run/Turn lights correctly, and are also plugged in to the circuit board.

I suspect either the rear circuit board or the LED light assembly itself has gone bust.  The circuit board is $28.  The entire rear taillight assembly is $250 ... so ... obviously ... I'm hopeful it's just the circuit board.

But - I'm not certain how to troubleshoot this successfully to determine if it's the circuit board or the taillight assembly.  Any guidance or pointers would be greatly appreciated.  I do have a decent volt meter, despite the fact that I don't know a huge amount about actually using it ...

Much appreciated if someone has some tips or tricks to diagnose which of the two might be the culprit.

Thank you,
~~shane

P.S. Attached is the assembly view of what I'm referring to.  Item 14 (taillight) and 19 (circuit board) are the two I believe that are in question.

• 14    68349-07D* TAILLAMP ASSEMBLY, W/ REF # 27, 30*    247.99
  
• 19    68830-99A CIRCUIT BOARD    27.49

[SIKBIRD]

Check your switch down by the frame near the rear (hydraulic line in and two wires attached) I had to replace one on my Night Train so they do go bad occasionally.  You’ll need to re-bleed your brake so it would be a good time to go ahead and replace the fluid.

[pauly_2]

Hi,
Like Sikbird suggested, your brake light switch (down near the exhaust) suffers a lot of heat and is often the culprit. Another thing to check, is road debris getting on the circuit board in the tail light assembly. I once had an intermittent brake light problem, where it would work sometimes, but not often. I racked my brain trying to find the issue and was about to cut into the wiring loom, when I thought I’d disassemble the tail light assembly first. When I did, there was a tiny piece of gravel bridging two pins going to the brake light. I removed that, cleaned the circuit board and reassembled… solved!

Thanks
Pauly

[sygibson]

@pauly_2 and @sikbird - appreciate the quick responses ! 

I assume by the "brake light switch" you mean the activation switch from the brake pedal?  Presumably, if this was bad, then the 2 side bullets with the Custom Dynamics Run/Brake/Turn LEDs would also not activate on brake light?   Those do indeed activate correctly - which are plugged in to the same circuit board as the rear taillight assembly. 

I did pull things apart and clean them as much as I could.  Was dismayed to find it appears not possible to easily disassemble the actual taillight assembly !!  I'll double check to make sure the pins and connectors are all clean.

Please keep the input coming !!  Thank you!

~~shane

[Joel]

Pull the bulb and check for power if its led check output from circuit board. Did you check the power and ground to the circuit board?

[sygibson]

Pull the bulb and check for power if its led check output from circuit board. Did you check the power and ground to the circuit board?

Thank you for the response.  The LED Taillight is a sealed assembly - so the LEDs themselves aren't available to test directly without breaking the glued seals.  The only thing I have is the connector and wiring going in to it.  Presumably the LED circuit board is inside the sealed taillight assembly.

In the above assembly drawing, item 19 is just a PCB that is used as purely as a plug connector as near as I can tell.

[pauly_2]

Yep - Item 19 was the culprit in my case. A small rock (like tiny….3mm max) had bridged two pins and was stopping my brake light from working.

Thanks
Pauly

Thank you for the response.  The LED Taillight is a sealed assembly - so the LEDs themselves aren't available to test directly without breaking the glued seals.  The only thing I have is the connector and wiring going in to it.  Presumably the LED circuit board is inside the sealed taillight assembly.

In the above assembly drawing, item 19 is just a PCB that is used as purely as a plug connector as near as I can tell.