My mom's 1999 9-5 wagon's reverse lights (or what seem to be the reverse lights) turn on when the car turns on and they don't turn off, I was following her on the freeway at night and every single car had only red tail lights except hers. It was almost blinding, it doesnt seem very safe. Any suggestions?
There is a switch on the transmission that controls the operation of the reverse lights. The type, location and operation of the switch differs depending on the transmission type. Is the car equipped with an automatic or manual transmission? Of course a wiring fault could cause the problem, but usually it is the switch or the mechanicals from the transmission that operate the switch.
Walt Kienzle
It's an automatic transmission. Would the switch be under the hood?
Hello. Is it both the lights or just one? My wife had a similar issue with her Honda a few years back. Someone changed a bulb and put an 1156 single-filament bulb in instead of a 1157 dual-filament one in the brake lamp socket. It caused a short and the lamps didn't work right.
Also check the physical wiring at the lamp itself, a loose wire, broken ground or other issue could cause a short. I had a similar issue where I had body work done to my 900 and the shop removed the tail lamp. When they put it back in, they reversed a pair of wires and my running/brake lights stopped working and the back up lights were on all of the time.
Also, clean all of the lamp and contacts with some steel wool, check the wires/connectors for corrosion (any green crap is bad) and before you re-seat the connection and bulbs, use some bulb grease between the blade & its mate and the bulb & and its contacts.
If there is corrosion, you will have to cut back the wire until there is none (nice, bright copper). When cutting, do so in very small increments at a time, maybe 1/4 inch (6 mm) at most. When you replace the connection, use weather resistant female blades with heat shrink tubing on them (You can get them at a local auto parts shop.) After you strip the wire, you crimp them on and then heat the tubing with a hair dryer. They will shrink and glue themselves to the wire and form a water resistant seal around it. Make sure to get the proper ones blade size (.250) and wire diameter (Red for 18-22 ga, blue for 14-16 ga or yellow for 10-12 ga)
Jeremy
atom wrote:
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