[MTMark]

Don’t know the actual term - but what ever mechanism allowed my 2018 700 EPS to start in gear while pressing the foot brake has suddenly stopped working. Any ideas?

 

[MTMark]

I just saw the post farther down about the 450. Brake light only comes on with right handle bar brake - not left or foot. Won’t start in gear with the right hand pulled either. I’ve always just engaged the foot for the interlock- is it supposed to work on the hand lever as well?

 

[JimP]

The brake switch is a piece of crap on these machines. The plunger that activates the light gets stuck and won't activate it.

The switch is on the left hand side next to the rear diff. You can reach in there and pull the plunger out and it may work for a while and then you will have the same problem. The plunger has a spring attached to it to put tension on pulling it out.

 

[MTMark]

Thanks for the info. Is there an upgrade for the switch?

 

[JimP]

No upgrade. I am going to just pull mine off this coming summer and see if I can get it working properly. Other than that a new one is less than $30 US from the dealer. But if you get one from a local dealer I would make sure that it operates smoothly before I paid them.

 

[MTMark]

This outfit only has 300 miles of light use on it - wouldn’t have much hope that an oem replacement will gain me much.

 

[JimP]

Mine had problems from the start.

I purchased my 2016 from a person one step ahead of the repo man. The nubs hadn't even been worn off of the tires yet.

When I first got the switch to working it lasted for a few months, now it seams like it is a fix before you ride type of thing. That is where I am thinking of pulling it off when it warms up and seeing what I can do to it.

 

[Jssrvlz]

I saw a video a while back about disabling that little mechanism. Because the 2018 apparently doesnt have it. I may be wrong, its been a while since i read into that

 

[JimP]

Any switch can be bypassed but this switch also controls the brake light. So if the brake light is not activating when the lever is pulled neither is the starting bypass circuit and vice versa.

It is better to get it working right than to start bypassing something.

 

[TRW]

I would think that you can eliminate the interlock switch and isolate that from the brake light switch

 

[JimP]

If the plunger is stuck it won't activate the brake light switch. While I believe that the switches are separate what operates them is the same mechanism.

 

[TRW]

MTMark, any updates or progress?

 

[TRW]

Looks great! One thing that is very important, if your muffler is on the front of that saw, be careful when you put the gas in next to it, like in the picture.