The
story behind the broken brake light switches (front and rear)
brakeswitches.htm
53B
Some BMW Service Information Bulletins that were issued regarding the front and rear brake light switches. The bulletins applied to K bikes and airheads, but not exactly the same way. There were bulletins issued in 1987 and updated in 1988 and a formal recall in 1989. Each one of these bulletins got longer, with more details. All R series bikes FROM 1985 model year through 1988, and SOME 1989 airheads, were affected. ALL models of airheads!
The SI's involved are 2263;
2305; 2342; 2343. This all became a formal FEDERAL recall
campaign,......and as such, if it applies to your bike, and you
have the switch contacting problem...it will be handled totally
by your dealer at no cost to you.
Forgetting the K bikes; and talking about our airheads:...the
bulletins had a new REAR switch AND FRONT switch; and a
modification was to be done to the front brake lever; and a cap
added to the rear brake lever actuating bolt head.....Excepting,
I think, the R80GS REAR, for which it did not apply exactly the
same way....see later here. The bulletins have a lot to
them, but basically, for our airheads, the front brake lever
itself was not contacting the switch actuating pin properly, the
pins bent, and failed. The switch was updated, and one was
to also modify the front brake lever. One was to remove the
front brake lever, a very easy job, and file slightly the lever
in one place so it did not 'catch' the brake switch pin.
For the REAR brake lever, the bolt that
actuates the rear switch was not contacting the actuating part of
the switch properly, and could cause a broken switch, and BMW
supplied a sort of a cap to fit over the bolt head.
SO....how to tell if your bike was fixed?
Inspect the actuating pin of the front and rear brake light
switches. WHITE pins are the bad ones. Black or dark Gray
are OK. NOTE that SOME R80G/S bikes used a different
front switch....and if the switch wires can be UNPLUGGED, then it
is NOT one of the bad recalled ones. However,
all should be inspected for condition of the pins, lever, etc.
To see the REAR switch pin, use a small mirror
and press the foot pedal, to then see the pin color.
In any case, the small ridge on the front lever is to be sanded
or filed off.
btw...the R80G/S and R100GS do not use the rear bolt cap that is
mentioned to be installed on other models.
It is not easy to describe, without a drawing, what is modified
on the front brake lever....but, if the lever is removed, you
will see the area around the pivot has some...well,
notches/cutouts. There may be a very small very
tiny notch on the outer curve, and it is the one to be
smoothed. If you put the lever into place without the
pin-bolt holding it, you will rather easily see what portion
contacts the switch pin, and why, if you have a lever needing
modification, it should be done.
I DO have the various bulletins, and the model and serial numbers of all the USA shipped (ONLY) bikes that were affected....but you can see from inspection if you have a bike that needs the fix.
Rev:
Initial release: 09/17/2004
01/15/2008: moved position on technical index page