Brake light switch sticking on with front brake

The front brake lever on the SV took a bit of a knock last week when I dropped it during an altercation with some chavs.

Following some testing on the advice of Paul the 6th and Dave20046 in this thread http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=133570 I am posting this to find out if anyone knows how to correct or replace the offending item to get it sorted for the time the MOT comes round.

Thanks

Maybe damaged the switch when you dropped it?

[dirtydog]

Is the lever a Suzuki part or a pattern one? It can affect it.

You can get a new brake light switch from wemoto for about £8 and they're easy to change, if you look at the underside of the lever and perch you should see it

[Luckypants]

The switch works by pushing in the little plunger on the switch unit to switch off the brake light and this is actuated by the 'L'-shaped casting to the left of the pivot (looking as sat on the bike). The problem with pattern parts (i.e not genuine Suzuki) is that they can be slightly out of tolerance and so not push the switch in far enough.

So to fix..

1. Check the operation of the switch by removing the brake lever and pushing the plunger in by hand. It should switch off the brake light as you push it in. If this test fails you need a new switch unit - see Bibio's link to wemoto.
2. Check the switch is correctly seated. The force that broke the lever might have moved the switch. Remove and re-seat with the locating lugs in the right place. Refit the lever and see if the problem is resolved.
3. If the problem persists at this point, the problem is that the lever is not pushing in the plunger enough. This can be fixed by wrapping thin strips of gaffa tape around the part that presses on the switch to thicken it and so push the plunger in enough. It might take two or three wraps of gaffa to get it thick enough. Check the operation of the lever and ensure that the brake light comes on about when the brakes do and goes off again. Adjust gaffa tape as needed.

Originally Posted by Jamiebridges123

Maybe damaged the switch when you dropped it?

Yes that's what I am beginning to think too must have knocked it in the impact that snapped the ball off the end of the lever

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Is the lever a Suzuki part or a pattern one? It can affect it.

You can get a new brake light switch from wemoto for about £8 and they're easy to change, if you look at the underside of the lever and perch you should see it

The lever is a pattern one but so was the previous one which I had to replace when I got the bike. I will have a look on wemoto and get one ordered if I can;t get one locally

Cheers Luckypants - I will give those a go