The tail light on my Honda Rebel doesnt work but the brake light does. What gives?

Question

I just bought a Honda Rebel and the tail light stopped working. I am 99% sure it was working when I got it two weeks ago. Like an idiot, I left the switch on a few days ago and killed the battery. I recharged the battery and now realized the tail light does not work. Not sure if this caused the problem or not. Any info on why the brake light works and the tail light does not work will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Most likely one filiment of  the bulb (brake light) is gone. First just try a new bulb. You can probably look at it and see if it's broken or not.

Answer 2

There are two filaments in the tail light. One for the tail light and on for the break light. You probably burned out the one filament. Simply take the bulb to any auto parts store and match the number and replace the bulb.

Answer 3

My Honda CB650 Custom had a dual-element bulb for the tail-light and the brake light.  If the Rebel is the same, you probably just need to replace the bulb.

Answer 4

An educated guess : the bulb in question probably has two separate elements and one is faulty, that's all I'm willing to bet.

Answer 5

2 stage bulb,

low stage is burnt out?

shorted wire?

bad connection?