Also make sure it's not corroded or disconnected in the connector itself by checking for voltage on the wire before it gets to the connector. Check all your fuses just in case it's been wired through another fuse instead.

 

I went through and tried a few things and ran a 12v+ to the green on the back up switch plug going into the firewall and still no lamps. I then pulled the passenger side lower dash panel and found the flasher where of course there was only one intact pink wire .... a short remnant was remaining of the backup light one.... so i traced further back up the wire loom and over by the radio I found where the remains of a melted wire .... not good. That explained why there was no power at the plug on the firewall. But why wasnt there power getting through to the lights... so i stared at the wiring diagrams and then decided to check the rear wire harness plug where I saw before, when repairing the courtesy lights, the yellow wires for the selt belt warning had been cut by bubba and sure enough the light green wire was cut. So I spliced that back together and then replaced the jumper to supply 12v+ at the light green wire on the firewall plug and there they were .... my back up lights gleaming.... So now, I must figure out why that wire burned up originally and then why wasn't it fixed correctly.... I mean if I can trace it and find this problem anyone should be able to...I guess I will disassemble the whole dash again and fix this correctly..... i was glad to see the lights come on and shine brightly. I did find before with the courtesy lights there was a bad burned wire and none of the lights worked, i fixed the wires and cleaned everything up and now they work great. Hopefully this will be the same thing. What do you guys think???

thanks for everything,

Sully

 

Good job. I've been watching this thread today.

 

The power for the reverse light switch, comes thru the ... Turn signal flasher.
At the flasher, there should 1 large pink wire (power coming from 12VIgn.)
with the large pink should be a "small pink "wire also,
This goes out to the reverse switch thru the firewall and reverse connector.good luck...69VETT

 

Me thinks you've done a fine job!

 

yeah there is 1 large pink wire, intact, and one thinner pink wire that is cut, this one should have gone to the backup switch, and also one purple wire coming out of the flasher. Im just worried that if I go in and start fixing the burnt wire what's to stop it from happening again... is there a way to check what caused it to melt the first time. I am guessing that the cut wire at the rear wire harness probably touched the birdcage and shorted to ground... that would be my guess. I guess I will repair it the best I can and put it all back together then test all the grounds and line continuity before hooking the battery back up...

what do ya think? good idea?

Sully

 

If you make the last conection with the battery on and just hold the two hot wires together you will feel the wires heat up if their is a short and not need to wait to see smoke and cause more damage.

 

your this far into it now., follow the wire, if it is deformed at any point replace the wire.
check for pinched, crushed or dark discoloration of the small pink wire.
you know where the wire goes to and from, in most likely hood, the switch got shorted to gnd at some point in time, but has since been corrected.
Use solder as a temp jumper, if you got short, it will melt away, saving your wire and electronics...69VETT

 

Yeah, when I first got the car there was a switch on the trans but the wires had been cut off. I have since put a new one in. I will be working on the rest of the wiring and will just repair all the previous bubba work... jeeze what's the poiint in fixing something if you aren't going to fix it right?

Sully

 

Sully was there been anything on your car added on that could have used the pink wire in the engine compartment as a power source? I use this pink wire myself for Pertronix units on occasion.I've heard others that have said they used it for the installation of electric fans,hopefully they are using it as an ignition on signal only.

 

lol.. ya never know what bubba could have done... we shall see when I get back behind the dash further. I have only traced it from the flasher to behind the radio where it is all bundled in the wire harness... so not very far... I am going to pull the whole thing out and trace through it all, probably replacing the whole pink wire. Fortunately bubba has not done much in my car and most of it is untouched and original.

Sully

 

Check around the exhaust to make sure the wire hasn't melted against it at some point where the connector wire goes down to the b/u switch. It won't be real easy to measure from pink to ground at the rear because you'll be reading through the b/u lamp bulbs, and they will read pretty close to zero ohms unless you pull them from the sockets. I agree with you, it probably shorted where it was cut at the rear. Also possibly the switch on the tranny shorted and the lights stayed on, melted the wire and the previous owner cut the wire at the back to get the lights off. Just a guess