02SOMWS6 Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 My winter car ('95 Cutlass Supreme) has had no reverse lights for some time now. It needs an inspection this month, and my regular guy told me last year that it was the last year he would pass it without reverse lights. So I need to get it figured out, as I would like to keep this car year round so I don't have to drive my WS6 all the time. I've been reading up on it, and it could possibly be a switch in the shifter? Any more info on that? Is there any other usual culprits? Also, when I turn on my left directional, my right brake light goes dim (like a regular taillight). I've also been reading up on this, and the problem is probably in the steering column connections? The car has ~210k miles on it, and is rusting pretty bad, but I would like to get one more winter out of it. Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldscsc Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) First off, welcome to W-Body! Luckily, reverse lights (anything in the rear harness for the most part) are some of the simplest circuits on a car. 1) Check the fuse. If it hasn't been changed, it should be a 15A. Should be called R/CMPT REL. It's under the hood. If the fuse is blown...you're not done . You need to find out why the fuse blew in the first place (insulation rubbed off some wiring and is shorting to ground, high resistance in the circuit, etc.). If it's good, continue on... 2) There's a trans. range switch on the transaxle. It lets the car know what gear the car is in. You can test it by putting the car in reverse and backprobing the light green wire rearward of the switch. You should be getting 12+ volts. If not, the range switch is probably your issue. The ground used by the reverse lights is also used by everything else on the rear of the car, so since you've got other lights back there you can rule that out. Also, that light green wire coming off of the range switch runs to the rear of the car before being spliced to power all of the reverse lights. Any flaw in the light green wire before it's spliced at the rear of the car could cause your issues. There's a couple other things it could be but IMO those are the most common. Edited April 18, 2012 by oldscsc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrcuttymann Posted April 21, 2012 Report Share Posted April 21, 2012 Just replace the turn signal switch and it will sove the dim light problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02SOMWS6 Posted April 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Thanks for the insight guys. Checked the fuse for the reverse lights, it was fine. I really think it is the trans. range switch, since my dad said the problem started happening when a new motor was put in the car. Does anyone have any pictures of where this switch is, and how to get to it? I've followed the shift cable into the motor compartment, but lose it after it runs under a bunch of stuff. What do I need to take out to access this part, or can it be seen easier from under the car? Thanks again for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95 vert Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Top of the trans underneath the brake booster. Bit of a pain to get to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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