850 Reversing Lights - Intermittant

[850_olaf_nz]

on the car ferry last night, the deck supervisor told me my reverse lights weren't working. that was a surprise to me!

today I checked out:

• the fuse
• the bulbs

and all were okay. I pulled the bulb-holders and moved them so that I could see them from the drivers area. Then I gently rocked the selector lever around in the reverse dentent (engine running, of course), and found *sometimes* my reversing lights flash... and sometimes if I held it in the right position, I could hold the reverse lamps on. Oh joy. Then, all back to 'normal' - non-functioning.

So tell me - is this the dreaded PNP switch, part number - 9466012.

Is there nothing else to explore - is life (for a change) that cut and dried? If so I'll source the part and get someone to install (I don't have time this week, and car due safety inspection 1 Dec).

Down here, functioning reversing lights are mandatory.

thanks in advance for your help!

'olaf'

[AlvinL]

on the car ferry last night, the deck supervisor told me my reverse lights weren't working. that was a surprise to me!

today I checked out:

• the fuse
• the bulbs

and all were okay. I pulled the bulb-holders and moved them so that I could see them from the drivers area. Then I gently rocked the selector lever around in the reverse dentent (engine running, of course), and found *sometimes* my reversing lights flash... and sometimes if I held it in the right position, I could hold the reverse lamps on. Oh joy. Then, all back to 'normal' - non-functioning.

So tell me - is this the dreaded PNP switch, part number - 9466012.

Is there nothing else to explore - is life (for a change) that cut and dried? If so I'll source the part and get someone to install (I don't have time this week, and car due safety inspection 1 Dec).

Down here, functioning reversing lights are mandatory.

thanks in advance for your help!

'olaf'

Sound like the PNP switch is just a touch off. Try aligning the switch or adjusting it until the lights stay on when in reverse. If not maybe the switch needs to be replaced.

[FixerUpper]

pnp is the culprit x1000

its not your bulbs.

[850_olaf_nz]

thanks, AlvinL and fixerupper. I'll look into the adjustment. I see the Haynes manual has some detail on "adjusting", although there's not a lot of useful stuff in there to be frank!

best regards

'olaf'

[850_olaf_nz]

to close this topic, it was indeed the PNP switch, replaced and now have reversing lights.

Hey folks, if you follow the procedure on Bay13 - REMEMBER TO CLEAR YOUR CODES!

you can align the PNP switch by eye, with care.

cheers

'Olaf'