Table of contents:
How To Troubleshoot a Brake Light Fault on an ATV
14 December 2022
Maybe you’re working on getting your ATV to become street legal, or your buddy is just looking out for you, but you realized that one of your brake lights isn’t lighting up when it should be. This can lead to a lot of issues regarding safety, especially if you’re riding in a group or on a road. A faulty brake light can be caused by many different issues, so knowing how to troubleshoot a brake light fault on an ATV is important to get it fixed right away.
In this article, we’ll cover the three main reasons why a brake light may be faulty on your ATV and then how to fix the brake light on that ATV. First, you’ll start with the fuses, move on to the switch, and finally test the bulb to get to the bottom of the faulty light. In a short time, you can be back on the road without the worry of someone rear-ending you due to a broken bulb.
Check the fuses
Starting with the fuses allows you to figure out how to fix the brake light on an ATV without taking everything completely apart. Plus, spare fuses are one of the few things you should always have handy in your glove box, so if you’re properly prepped you can pop a new fuse in and be ready to go.
In order to check the fuse, identify which fuse corresponds to your brake lights. This should be easily found in your owner’s manual or with a quick Google search.
With a circuit test light, check both sides of the fuse while the ignition is on to see if there is power moving through the fuse. If you fail to get the test light to light up, you can just throw a new fuse in place of what’s there and likely have a working brake light immediately.
Test the switch
On many rigs, there is a stop switch assembly where you can use the same test light switch to see if there’s a spot where power isn’t moving. Just like with the fuse, turn the ignition on and test the stop switch for power.
If your stop switch assembly and fuses are both working properly, you’ll need to move to the brake light assembly to fix the problem.
Test the bulb
The reason we put this last is that you need to take things apart. Start by removing the seat and rear rack (depending on your ATV this might be different), in order to get at the wiring for the brake light that isn’t working. Test the wires that are coming in for power, and then remove the bulb if everything is good.
Simply try a new bulb in order to find out if this is the issue. Hopefully, by this point, you haven’t missed anything, and replacing the bulb will fix the problem!
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