reverse light sensor problem (chch)

[slystiguy]

Hey just under the car now is the reverse sensor the bolted in sensors next to the downpipe on gf8?

so it would be drivers side and quite close to the fire wall about mid way up on the gbox?

many thanks

[kamineko]

there are two 2wire screw-in switches bolted to the passenger side of the manual gearbox transfer case (rear) for neutral and reverse with black and white plugs, cant remember which is which sorry!

the sensor on the drivers side will be the speedo drive / sensor

caution removing them with the vehicle level, gearbox oil will escape!

[slystiguy]

yea removed found it was speedo felt stupid haha, removed the correct sensor this time cleaned and put back in. Still no reverse lights damit all! (also lost about 100-200ml of oil haha so annoying it just goes everywhere)

anyone know which fuse is for reverse lights? I can\'t see any blown ones

don\'t know where to go from here, anyone in chch able to help?

[Guest]

hijacka is your local cheap and good by feedback on here. He has a post up with contact dets.

[slystiguy]

how do you test a faulty sensor?

[kamineko]

you could simply swap the white and black plugs - if the neutral switch is working then you\'ll have reverse lights in neutral (assuming no other wiring fault)

they are a simple make-or-break push switch. can\'t remember if they are normally sprung on or off

[slystiguy]

Ok thanks will give it a test. The springy part of it seems to work fine. So if they work while in neutral after doing the switch i\'ll have an easy fix if not I\'m looking at tracing the wires back until I find power and rechecking all fuses to make sure I didn\'t miss anything. Seems weird they used to work fine then one day BAM just stopped completely. Will post results tomorrow

[slystiguy]

TEsted voltage at the switch connector and got 11.9 (while in reverse, strange thing was I got -4.1 in the neutral plug?)

couldn\'t test the way mentioned above as the plugs are different (the reverse plug is a male and the neutral is female so cant plug in to each other)

tested voltage at lights an got nothing...

Are there more grounds along that circuit somewhere? I couldn\'t see any from back seat to where it goes into spaghetti junction under the dash (guessing theres on there somewhere?).

putting money on it being the actually switch in the gearbox would that be a correct assumption? seem as they were working fine then just stopped one day not like it was intermittant or anything just completely gone.

Checked all fuses and the bulbs are fine.

So wondering if anyone got a sensor in chch I can test/borrow/buy ? Seems like the next logical thing to try

[kamineko]

 slystiguy']

TEsted voltage at the switch connector and got 11.9 (while in reverse, strange thing was I got -4.1 in the neutral plug?)

12V voltage at reverse switch is good. you\'ve tested the neutral plug backwards but its close enough to 5V because it goes to the ECU, also good

couldn\'t test the way mentioned above as the plugs are different (the reverse plug is a male and the neutral is female so cant plug in to each other)

whopps. my bad. you can see what i was trying to achieve tho

[quote name='slystiguy said:

tested voltage at lights an got nothing...

Are there more grounds along that circuit somewhere? I couldn\'t see any from back seat to where it goes into spaghetti junction under the dash (guessing theres on there somewhere?).

putting money on it being the actually switch in the gearbox would that be a correct assumption? seem as they were working fine then just stopped one day not like it was intermittant or anything just completely gone.

Checked all fuses and the bulbs are fine.

So wondering if anyone got a sensor in chch I can test/borrow/buy ? Seems like the next logical thing to try

if your measuring 12V at the reverse plug (loom side), that suggests the circuit is complete from the battery through the bulbs up to that plug. click your multimeter over to b]10A DC Amps[/b] and try testing it again. you will probably need to change the red probe socket on the multimeter. don\'t use a setting less than 10Amps (like 100mA) as the multimeter fuse will blow

(from the Impreza A/B manual there doesn\'t appear to be a relay used. this is probably why these switches fail every so often)

the multimeter will act as the closed switch and you\'ll hopefully have some reverse lights. and for fun it\'ll also tell you the current draw.

[slystiguy]

New switch is 55+ retail haha

worth holding out for a 2nd hand unit you think?

ok will give that a go and post results, many thanks for all the help so far it has been very helpful

[Guest]

Ive got a set if you get really stuck. Im in Northland but courier 5buck or something. PM me if you cant find anything.