I have a problem. As you know the auto head lights, turn signals and backup lights are all on the same fuse. Everything is fine until I shift to reverse. Shifting to reverse, turning on the backup lights blows the fuse. Does that mean that I have a bad backup light switch that is blowing the fuse? If so, how difficult is it to change?

 

Have you done any work on the tail end section recently? There may be a
pinched wire grounding to the frame.

If you have an ohm meter, you could locate the short much easier.

See if the reverse lights read zero ohms when the gear is anything other than
reverse. That will isolate the switch as being the problem.

 

i had the same problem a couple of months back my reverse switch on the gearbox was shorting to earth when reverse was selected. Until i could get a new one i connected a relay to the reverse lights and used the reverse switch as a negitive triger to the relay until i got a new switch.

 

Thanks guys for the response. I found the problem. Is was the reverse (backup light) switch in the transmission. The reverse switch does not often fail, so most dealers do not carry the switch. They have to order it. So, of-course it takes a few day to get it. When ones backup lights start blowing fuses, one naturally thinks bad bulb or a short in the wiring. The way mine did (work sometime, blow a fuse the next few times) I was almost sure that it was the reverse switch in the tranny, but I took the car to the dealer so that they could run a complete test on the system to be sure that I was right so that I could fix the proper problem. Sometimes it just takes the proper testing equipment to determan a problem. That way when it is fix the problem is fixed and gone. Thanks again for you thoughts, guys.