Tremelune

I put it in reverse, no lights. A few days later, lights. Now, no lights. I've tried jiggling the stick, and the lights don't flash on. All fuses are straight...My guess is that there's a corroded ground somewhere, my hatch kind of leaks a little bit, but every other rear light works just fine. It doesn't seem like it'd be the bulbs...

I'm told there's a switch in the transmission? Is this a $1500 switch that involves removing the gearbox, or maybe it's as easy as changing a bulb? Has any one had this problem? I searched the forum, but didn't turn up much on reverse lights. If I can check a few simple things out, I'd like to.

trebor_quitman

It may be as simple as crawling under the rear end and cleaning the connectors at the tranny or seeing if they are loose. Lots of road dirt can accumulate back there.

newoldguy

Also, there's a ground back there. Just unsnap your carpet and you'll find it to the left of the spare tire. Maybe loose, broken, corroded?

Dano_944

Check the switch. It is located at the top of the tranny and slightly right (passenger rear tire). The switch threads into the tranny housing at a slight angle. There are two wires: a hot and a ground. The hot is energized when you throw it in reverse (I think). Using a paper clip and turn the ignition key off, pull the wires off the switch, link them with the paper clip. Turn key on. Lights? bad switch. No lights? Bad wiring/connection somewhere else.

Those wires get really dirty and brittle from age, weather and heat. Check the connections and clean them thoroughly. It is really dirty an grimey under there so wear eye protection, long sleeves, and gloves.

The switch on mine didn't work. I replaced it (really cheap... like under $10.00) and it still didn't work. I took it to my mechanic/machinist. He ended up machining off about 2/32 of an inch from the switch..... it wasn't reaching all the way into the tranny housing. Now I have ilumination.

The switch is cheap, and a tad tough to replace. But if you can replace a light bulb.........

Good luck! <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Tremelune

Thanks for the info...I'll check it out.

Mark Hubley

I had similar symptoms with my 86 944 last summer. Simply replacing the switch that goes into the top/passenger side of the tranny fixed the problem. (cost: about $8.00 from Vertex Auto). Reverse lights are working fine now. You have to get the car off the ground and do a little contorting, but it's a pretty easy job.