Reverse Light Not Illuminating

[Mark I Williams]

I have a 54 reg Mondeo. My reverse lights have stopped working. My colleague and I checked the fuse, which is ok and put that and the bulb through his volt meter - both gave a good reading.

So it seems like it's the switcher or something like that. Any ideas what and how easy/expensive to fix?

[jamesm182]

Could be the reverse light switch on the gear box. Common problem on a lot of cars.A relatively cheap and easy fix though normally :)

[stevegtuk]

very common on mondys for the switch to go.

To make sure disconnect the wiring connector from the switch (ontop of the gearbox, just under the air filter housing) and join the connectors wire ends together (witha piece of spare wire), if the reverse lights come on then its the switch thats gone.

Switches arent much and its just a simple undo and replace job. I cant remember what size it is though.

[Mark I Williams]

It's booked into the garage on Wednesday to fix. I've also noticed that the cruise control has stopped working. Is this likely to be linked?

[jeebowhite]

I suspect that the cruise has another reason. Unless the car is reporting a CAN BUS error, it probably wont be the reason.

[Mark I Williams]

I'm not too fussed about the cruise control to be honest. I haven't checked the fuse for that yet so I guess it could be that? Not sure what a CAN BUS error is or how to find it though.

[jeebowhite]

your not the only one :p

Basically CAN Bus is a generic comms system in the car part of the diagnostics system. But as for tracking errors down, its difficult. I have a CAN BUS error on my car, its a pain in the backside as I havent got a clue where it is, I suspect its the instrument cluster wiring but not sure!

[Mark I Williams]

Well I got the reverse switch looked at yesterday at the garage and it was faulty so that now works...as does the cruise control! So, the cruise must somehow be linked to that switch. However it works, at least it does without me having to pay for them to look at that too. :-)

[jeebowhite]

Glad to see its all sorted! am confused how its integrated but at least its a useful nugget of infromation for anyone who has similar issues :)