Reverse Lights Always On

[hondacivic]

Hi -I have a 1995 Mazda 626 Estate (Well actually it's a Mazda Capella Wagon, but thats a whole other story) The problem is the reverse lights are always on. Always. From when I put the key in the on position no matter whether I have the headlights on or off or no matter what gear I am in. I have the two bright white lights shining out the back of the car! This has to be quite uncomforting for whoever is behind me in traffic! Any suggestions? The bulbs must be fine so I'm guessing there must be aswitch problem, although I would have thought that if this was gone the lights would just stay off! Any help greatly appreciated.

[rivolette]

There's a reverse lgear light switch wich kicks in when you put the car in reverse. Sounds to me like that switch is malfunctioning.

Not necessarily an easy switch to replace. If you can get your hands on one of those complete overhaul manuals for your model, you'd be able to see precisely where the switch is located and how many parts you need to remove to get to the switch.

[hondacivic]

Great! I figured I'd have to go digging around the transmission to sort this 'little' problem out. Sounds like fun. Anyone know wher I can get a manual for a Capella Wagon (or an F8 engine)? Thanks

[larsen_huw]

Ebay?

Also, I'd do a quick check of your earth's before you go pulling your gearbox apart!

I'm more than 90% sure it'll be a problem with the reverse light sensor - but for the sake of 10 minutes with a multimeter it'd be worth checking your connections. You'd be mighty pissed off to pull the gearbox down, change a switch on it, bolt it all back up again - only to find it didn't cure the problem and all that was wrong was a simple short circuit!

[hondacivic]

Update: Instead of messing around with all that transmission and difficult wiring stuff. I went up to halfords and bought a brand new white light and a red light for 10 euro each mounted them on the back of the tailgate and wired them to 2 neat little switches on the dashboard! Now I have a working reverse light at the flick of a switch and also a rear fog light which I didn't have previously (I don't think these are standard equipment in Japan). So now along with my front fog switch I have a lovely array of flkicky switches on my dash, makes me feel like I'm in a rally car rather than a boring estate!