back-up lights not working

I have a 2002 Golf TDI - manual transmission.

Neither of my back-up lights are working. Both bulbs are good and the fuse (number 7 in the panel) is fine. Is the next thing to check the back-up light switch?

According to the Bentley manual the back-up light switch is located on the top of the transmission, on front selector mechanism housing. I looked through the manual transmission section of the Bentley manual and can't find any documentation on the back-up light switch.

Where is this switch located (yea, I know 'on the top of the transmission, on front selector mechanism housing)? Is this a common part to go bad. Easy to replace?

Check your harness. My 2002 had a couple short harnesses that decided to split after 150k miles. The picture below is what my backup harness looked like. (the sensor is in the 6 o'clock position on the shift tower...partially hidden in this picture by the wiring harness)

OK - I think I found this in Bentley - page 34-11 figure 15 - under the air cleaner. Anyone have the part number for the switch?

great... I had that whole area ripped up about a year ago replacing the glow plug harness. Thanks for the info, I'll take a look.

If anyone has the part number for the backup light switch just in case...

I think I would test the one you have first. I have heard of broken wires at the connector that goes onto the switch.

Both wires going into the connector for the back-up light sensor are intact. How can the sensor be checked?

Looks like the sensor just comes out with a socket wrench. Anyone know the part number?

This seem correct? 02K 945 415 C
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2950452

I'm thinking you could use a multi meter and check for continuity with it in and out of reverse. If the wires are good then it is most likely the switch.

Seems like updated part number is:

02K945415G
MSRP $20.90
Going to be easier just to buy it and replace than to figure out how to test this thing.

Revision G? A, B, C, D, E, and F all faulty designs?

Fixed - at least for now. Must be some type of short in the back-up switch/connector. After moving the wires around a bit the back-up lights are working now. Then I find out a bulb is bad too.

Yea, 140,000 miles and 7 years old - but come-on. The electrical systems in this car are really, really bad. I have every single bulb in this car 'in stock' since they blow out constantly. Replaced MAF. Replaced glow plug harness. Replaced parking brake sensor. And I have the blasted turn signal phantom blinker noise too which I don't even want to deal with since fixing it right requires lots of work in removing the steering wheel.

And for 5+ years I am dealing with some type of bad door switch(es). Alarm doesn't beep every time when arming (sometimes will beep a minute or so later), lights in the car stay on when doors are shut, no lights when doors are open and the damn car will lock on it's own when a door is open!

I ended up ordering the back-up light switch at the dealer. I don't trust that the old one is working correctly and don't want someone to smash into me since they didn't know I was backing up.

The dealer parts department had a difficult time finding the part number. They say the part number is 02T-945-415-P. Won't know for sure until I install it. List price $25.88.

andydrew,

According to the description on WorldImpex that's the switch for a 6 speed gasser.

I stumbled onto this thread looking for the right part number. My dealer ordered me the wrong one. I'll bet anything that this one is for an auto-tragic..... I guess I'll tear it apart anyhow and make sure it's not the wires.

Bob

andydrew said:

I ended up ordering the back-up light switch at the dealer. I don't trust that the old one is working correctly and don't want someone to smash into me since they didn't know I was backing up.

The dealer parts department had a difficult time finding the part number. They say the part number is 02T-945-415-P. Won't know for sure until I install it. List price $25.88.

Click to expand...

Double check the wires, I had a break in the wire at the plug . I had to cut the plug from the wire end to the plug end , then solder the wire together. Plug your voltmeter into both of the sockets of the plug end,put the car in reverse and wiggle the wires around I bet you will find an intermittent connection there.

As far as your door alarm,interior lights problem search for the $3.00 fix for the door, or some combination. You have one or maybe two intermittent door lock micro switches that are failing open ( telling your car that the door is open when it's closed) interior lights on and alarm won't set and you cannot remote lock your car or failing closed ( telling your car that the door closed when it is opened) no interior lights.

A little more digging at 1stvwparts seems to indicate that the part number you've ordered supersedes the part number listed for the five speed. I suspect both transmissions share the same switch.

Please post back if that turns out to be the right one. I have to go back to the dealer to get the right one. Hopefully they won't give me any of that special order baloney about replacing it....

Bob

bf1967 said:

andydrew,

According to the description on WorldImpex that's the switch for a 6 speed gasser.

I stumbled onto this thread looking for the right part number. My dealer ordered me the wrong one. I'll bet anything that this one is for an auto-tragic..... I guess I'll tear it apart anyhow and make sure it's not the wires.

Bob

Click to expand...

Question, looks like my wire is cut right at the plug, is there a way to open the actual plug connector on the actual plug to repair?

you can push the terminal out of the connector and recrimp if that is easier.

Thanks greengeeker, do I push from the wire side or the inside of the connector? I'm going to go look at it now and see if I can push from either side.

I was able to get the connector off, there is a purple clip inside the connector that I slid off with a pick. Then I used the same pick to remove a orange grommet. Then you need to pull the wires out from the outside, yet I can't get the broken one out, not sure if I need a special tool, but will need to find out in order to remove the connector in there and recrimp the broken wire.

any old terminal release tool will work which are available at most auto parts stores.

Thanks greengeeker, I'll be going shopping in a bit Aprreciate the help.

OK. I'm having the same issue on my 2001 Jetta. However, while trying to remove the plug from the sensor, the little black tab broke off. How do I remove the plug now?? I'm also very restricted in the amount of room I have because the battery tray is limiting my access to the plug.

eats1963 said:

OK. I'm having the same issue on my 2001 Jetta. However, while trying to remove the plug from the sensor, the little black tab broke off. How do I remove the plug now?? I'm also very restricted in the amount of room I have because the battery tray is limiting my access to the plug.

Click to expand...

Do yourself a favor and remove the tray. It isn't hard to take out and you'll have easy access to the switch. You should be able to get the plug off the switch even without the tab. If I recall correctly it just latches it to the switch. It has a little o-ring inside so it can be hard to get off.

Bob

OK, so does anyone know where I can get the terminal ends like those on the end of the wire in the picture below? Radio Shack, Advance Auto and Auto Zone don't carry them. I managed to get my plug out, but when I tried to get new wires on the terminal, it broke.

So Andydrew how did it go? Did the 02K945415G work for you?

I narrowed my problem down to that switch too.

The part number of my old bad switch is: 02K945415D

I did a lot of looking online and as far as I can tell the 02K945415G is still the newest revision of this part. (plus the picture I found looks identical to mine)

I phoned up one of the dealers earlier and even after giving him my VIN and telling him it was a screw in type he gave me a part number for one of those clamp on type switches : 02A945413C
(I didn't have the old part out at that time...so I didn't yet know what the old part number was.)

So anyway...I'm just curious if the 02K945415G worked for you....or for anyone else with a 01 to 03 MK4 ALH.

Update....the 02K945415G worked!

It's a bit different in size than the older switch, but the screw-in part and the electrical connector ends were identical.

I saw a thread on here somewhere today where a guy took one of those switches apart a cleaned the contacts to make it work again.

Well, my car failed inspection on Monday because the backup lights weren't working. And once again this forum comes to the rescue.

In my case, I easily located the sensor using the pictures upthread. I started to wiggle the wires to see if this would be easy or not, and one of them came off. So my little project for the weekend is to remove the battery and do a little soldering.

An easy way to get a new connector

What an awesome thread! Mine had the same problem; A broken wire right at the connector. I couldn't get it to solder on and then realized it's the SAME connector as the brake pad sensor. I've kept the old connectors to those thinking they might come in handy someday. I dug out the old brake pad connector, stripped the insulation on the pigtail and it fit perfectly. The reverse lights work again and I can finally get my car re-inspected. What a great forum!

Sorry for the late response - 2 years late!

The part number I posted earlier in this thread was good. It seems to have solved the issue at the time. The wires to the harness were intact.

But then sometime later I noticed that the reverse lights were not working all of the time, only came on when the brake was released, etc.

So I had ended up getting the repair wires and a new harness connector. I followed the instructions in another thread regarding that repair wires, harness, and the little silicone sealer plugs that slip over the wires.

Working great now. Likely the sensor itself was never bad but the connection in the harness was failing originally. (as suggested by many in this thread!)