I am getting power to neutral safety switch, replaced the switch to no avail. Power is going to plugs at position near and or gas tank/ but for some reason no power is at plugs (at bumper) to power reverse lamps. Brakes lamp are all workigng fine. I know they are grounded by grey wire...but I took extra precaution and grounded them through a ground body to the chassis. look, there is only a grey ground body wire on LH side of the rear tail light assembly....should I just ground the reverse lamps to the RH grey ground (as I seen on wiring disgrams?) or rely on socket worm gear terminal wire to terminal ground.
???

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exoJjL

Make, model, and year, automatic or standard, column or floor shifter would be helpful.

Generically speaking:

You will need to test continuity in each segment of back-up light conductor starting at hot side of neutral safety switch to lamp holders. I suspect that there is a bad connection between said switch and bulkhead connector or between bulkhead connector and connector behind kick panel. Look for cut or disconnected conductor under dash.

A test light will be your friend in this project. Chances of a broken conductor between driver's side kick panel & trunk are slim as that wire is bundled and run behind a protective race along rocker panel under carpet with all the other circuits running to rear of car until it gets to the unprotected trunk area where pinch damage by heavy objects is more likely.

I had a similar problem with my Dart's automatic floor shifter mounted switch feed by a secondary sub harness diverting power from the more common column mounted automatic shifter; turned out there was a poorly crimped factory brass connector in the sub harness.

Just follow the electrical diagram, and you will find the problem.

Wire diagrams found here if needed along with a lot of other good info.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Bulkhead connector switch is this two wires? Grey and Blue?

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exoJjL

AS previously requested

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1973/73ValiantA.jpg

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1973/73ValiantB.jpg

If (on schematic B) you follow backwards from the back up lights along the violet wire thru connector slot 6, out of 6 along the white wire to the end of the page (below the fat red ammeter wire)....

Picking up white (below fat red on schematic A) thru connector Z, out Z along black wire to (here is where it gets a little confusing) Auto or Manual switch....

Well is it manual or auto? Are we on the right model car?...

It looks to me like power for this circuit begins on the brown/yellow wire in the starter relay, but I could be all wrong. I've never worked on an A body of this vintage.

I'm tapping out.... ... ... ...

I am sorry I forgot to add this crucial information. 1973 Plymouth Scamp, automatic, column shifter, with super six 2bbl and shift linkage. I also just figured out why my license lamp is not working, because the ground wire is not making a connection...strange, I cleaned up all the back groundings. Does the backuplamps ground to the same source as the license lamp?

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exoJjL

Greetings,

unless you have a complete circuit, no electrons will flow. something as simple as corrosion in the brass tip in the lamp socket or the tip of the bulb will stop electron flow. Is the bulb confirmed functional?

Do you have a test light? By grounding the alligator clip on the test light you can seek voltage. By applying voltage to the alligator clip, you can test for functional grounds.

You stated you have voltage into the reverse light switch. Is there voltage on the output side of the switch when in reverse? If so, then is voltage available at the lamp sockets? If not, trace the wiring from reverse switch to trunk.

Test the lamp sockets for functional ground with voltage applied to the test light.The connection where the lamps ground wire is screwed to the body is another source of corrosion as you have discovered.

If you don't own a test light, how about a free with purchase volt meter from China (Harbor Freight)? Might work once... and worth what you paid.

Keep posting! Your discoveries might help the next slant owner.

Both the Lamp sockets have been replaced and are naturally grounded to the tail lamp. I hose clamped extra ground wire from the tail lamp sockets to the body, behind the bumper. Light grounding is absolutely not the issue.
All said ground wires on the rear are newly wired up until both (left/right) plugs on the rear. The grounds have new loop terminals with freshly cleaned body grounds. All wires from the rear (including the brakes, sidemarkers; traced forward from LH side over gas tank through rear seat and along the side of the car past front seat to plug at panel; left and below dashboard at the left foot of the driver has been inspected and appears okay. I tested voltage on these, with positive results.

I did test the neutral safety switch and initially it had no resistance, so I replaced it. Now it gets voltage and I traced it's wires up until the firewall and they all appear fine.

However, there is this two-prong (female) V-style plug on the wall left to my (left foot, driver) that has a Grey and Blue wire. The male end appears to have become disconnected years ago and I think this might be the missing link...here is why...Male end is 2'

I used my multimeter to test red to Blue from kicker plug and I get voltage while shifting in a gears but neutral...absolutely no voltage when I shift the gear in Neutral (this is an Auto) Also when I get voltage I hear a BUZZER I never heard before.

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exoJjL

Just for the heck of it, try hooking your seat belt together and see if the buzzing sound goes away. It may be that some previous owner discovered that unhooking that particular wire killed the seat belt buzzer, not realizing it also killed the b/u lamps.
(But then, I'm not too sure whan they started with the seat belt buzzers.)

Roger

Tried the seat belts and that did not make a difference.

http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u48 ... ebmz0z.jpg

This is the plug in question. What does this do? does it have anything to do with the reverse lights?

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exoJjL

I hate to do this but I am just going to run a duel switched power e from the battery to the backup lamps. I know this is not U.S. DOT legal but no one wants to help me so this is a functional fix (yes I understand backup lamps should legally function when gears are placed in reverse. And everything does...?)

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exoJjL

We have outlined various reasons a backup light circuit won't function. It would be nice if we could hands on fix the problem through our computer screens, but it's a lot like giving a haircut over the phone.

You, the guy with hands on, need to trace out the circuit and its various components on paper and then locate and systematically test all within your car. Keeping in mind that switches and or possibly shift linkage may need to be aligned or adjusted. Step by step testing will reveal the problem or problems. This is how all electrical gremlin's are exorcised.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Then what were all those previous posts?

You said you have voltage to the reverse light switch on the tranny...(Is that correct? Or am I making that up?)

Did you bypass the switch and apply voltage to the output side of said switch?

Did you bring voltage to the trunk and intercept the reverse light wire and verify actual illumination of the desired bulbs?

Small story here.... A buddy removed his air cleaner and set it down... On the unprotected alternator post. When the smoke cleared he needed new under hood and under dash harnesses. After replacing all of it, I had no reverse lights. The problem turned out to be the 5 wires in a 6 wire plug were not all in the same spots From old to new harness. The moral of the story is this.....

Electrons will not jump an air gap. A complete circuit is mantatory. Bypassing sections of the circuit to verify functionality of others will help you isolate the problem areas. Electron flow is not voodoo. Patience and Logic will succeed. Think of it as water flowing thru a hose and ground as the ocean. Eventually all water leads to the ocean.

Let us know what you discover...