There's a ghost in my GAUGE CLUSTER!

[JCamry94]

Okay, okay, okay.

So I searched and searched and searched, but all to no avail.

Here's my problem: My reverse lights are tempermental. When I first start the car up and I switch it into "R" as shown on the guage cluster, and "R" on the gear selector no lights come on, both in the back or on the guages.

What I have to do and wish to stop doing: If I let it warm up a bit and jiggle the shifter for a second or two, then slightly tilt it back towards "N" while in reverse, THEN both the guage "R" and back up lights turn on (only if I hold it AT THAT EXACT SPOT THOUGH!).

What I want to happen: Though sometimes I will get lucky and start up the car after it is already warmed up and all the lights will work just fine.

What in god's name is happening? And how could I get it to just work? What do I have to look for?

It's getting quite tiresome and dangerous to be in a packed and busy parking lot with one hand on the shifter to hold the reverse lights and one on the wheel!

I have no issues ripping up the wiring and finding the problem myself, I've just been too busy lately and would like to know if any of you had good insight

[Never95]

The electrical switch and the physical action of the gear switching are separate. I would carefully pry up the guard and get some alcohol to clean the contacts and see if that will help. The higher the % the better as naturally water and electricity dont mix well. Do this with the car off, for added safety you can disconnect the batter but it shouldnt be needed.

[uuuuu]

Sounds like it could be a neutral safety switch. The contacts in the switch may be corroded or dirty. I am planning on changing/cleaning mine out in the near future, and I'll try to make a write-up if necessary.

It is located on the transmission under the cruise control box (have someone move the shift lever while you are looking under there so you can see it easily).

[JCamry94]

Originally Posted by Never95

The electrical switch and the physical action of the gear switching are separate. I would carefully pry up the guard and get some alcohol to clean the contacts and see if that will help. The higher the % the better as naturally water and electricity dont mix well. Do this with the car off, for added safety you can disconnect the batter but it shouldnt be needed.

That's the freakin weird part! It seems like it would logically be a totally unrelated problem, but it does not work without one or the other. Which gaurd are you refering to btw?

Originally Posted by uuuuu

Sounds like it could be a neutral safety switch. The contacts in the switch may be corroded or dirty. I am planning on changing/cleaning mine out in the near future, and I'll try to make a write-up if necessary.

It is located on the transmission under the cruise control box (have someone move the shift lever while you are looking under there so you can see it easily).

I'll give this a looksy, thanks!