Backup (not) lights.

Brian_Spilsbury

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2003
Location
Eden Mills, ON
TDI
2003 JETTA, 2004 JETTA
The title says it all.
A few nights ago I was reversing up my drive and I noticed the BU lights, both together, flickered on and off a few times in 100 ft or so and then both went out. Running and turn signal lights still working fine.
What's the best first thing (it's cold outside) to look for (other than checking fuses which are OK)

Brian
 

stoutguru

Vendor
Joined
Dec 16, 2008
Location
Cambridge, Ontario
TDI
2002 Jetta TDI, 2002 Golf TDI, 2004 Jetta TDI
Unplug the reverse light switch and bridge the two wires. If the lights light up the switch is faulty. If the lights do not light up you may have bad bulbs, wiring or a fuse blown.
 

Brian_Spilsbury

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2003
Location
Eden Mills, ON
TDI
2003 JETTA, 2004 JETTA
I certainly agree with the too cold thing. March sounds about right.
The car is in the garage...for the first time in it's life... as I still run bio. And I've had it gel on me on a couple of really cold nights!
 

Toronto_Vento

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 7, 2002
Location
Richmond Hill, ON
TDI
01 Baltic Green Bora
My vote is for a faulty reverse switch. Have heard of many of these going bad before. If it's in the garage, isn't it warm enough in there to do some work? I had to do a bunch of work on the engine at the beginning of the month and was okay working with enough layers.
 

cwspen

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Location
Brampton, ON, Canada
TDI
2001 Jetta
I have the same problem. No reverse lights, and I've just lived with it for about 18 months or so. Ha. I just use extra caution when reversing since people won't know I'm backing up, and it's harder to see at night. I've checked both bulbs, but never got around to checking switches / wires / asking on here.

Maybe this is the motivation I need.
 

SilveR316

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Location
Toronto, Ontario
TDI
2000 VW Golf 1.9L TDI
cwspen said:
I have the same problem. No reverse lights, and I've just lived with it for about 18 months or so. Ha. I just use extra caution when reversing since people won't know I'm backing up, and it's harder to see at night. I've checked both bulbs, but never got around to checking switches / wires / asking on here.

Maybe this is the motivation I need.
I'm in the exact same situation. My reverse lights havent worked in ages. I should get around to fixing that this spring.
 

cwspen

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Location
Brampton, ON, Canada
TDI
2001 Jetta
Yeah... I just figured I wouldn't worry about it until it was time to sell. But now I'm in the process of fixing all the little things that need fixing. Parking brake cable, reverse lights, mysterious coolant leak, cracked windshield, etc. etc.
 

Brian_Spilsbury

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2003
Location
Eden Mills, ON
TDI
2003 JETTA, 2004 JETTA
Well, since I seem to have company with this problem, where is the switch located?
I can try the job and let you know if it was better to wait till spring!
 

cwspen

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Location
Brampton, ON, Canada
TDI
2001 Jetta
Definitely easy to get to.

Also, from another thread, the back up light switch connector is the same as the brake pad wear sensor connector. (Not my discovery, from this post: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=273539)

My back up light switch connector was FUBAR. Luckily I'd done a brake change on the wife's car a few weeks ago and hadn't thrown out the old pads (with sensor connector).

I couple splices, a couple solder'd joints, and a couple pieces of heat shrink and my reverse lights are serviceable again.

Now if I could just figure out why I'm getting the P0380 glow plug code.
 
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