No Backup Lights!

[Jedidiahwiebe]

I've come to realise over the course of the two years that I've owned the delica... That there are no backup lights. This has recently become so annoying that I've decided to investigate and try to fix it!

The reverse lights simply do not go on. There is also no 'reverse beep' of any sort. Could it be that the previous owner removed disconnected the entire assembly? Where might I look for the switch to see if i could turn it back on?

Thanks everybody!

[Jedidiahwiebe]

Update: I discovered that one wire had broken off the reverse indicator switch (or backup lamp switch whatever you wanna call it) Turns out that it is in a relatively exposed spot and probably had been whacked by some branch or something.

I thought all hope was lost and began inquiring as to the price of a new one... but then I had an idea. I found two teeny tiny screws, and a teeny tiny drill bit... Drilled right into where the wires had broken off, and screwed in my tiny (and i emphasise TINY) screws. It's a hard plastic/epoxy like substrate with the old wire embedded into it. Then I stripped off the ends of the wire (which i re-routed overtop the transmission so it would be coming down to the sensor at a less exposed angle. With great difficulty I soldered the wires onto my (tiny) steel screws, and then gave it a shot of extra thin (3 second) superglue which wicks into fine cracks to affix the tiny screws. Finally to prevent corrosion and occasional shorting out, or repeat break offage I coated the whole thing with a gob of five minute epoxy (which I incedentally mixed with fumed silica so as to make it into a thixotropic paste that wouldn't completely drip off while curing. As you can see in the picture some dripped off, but enough stayed behind!

Full size image: http://imgur.com/DsNwo
And that's how a guitarmaker fixes the backup lights on his delica (truss rod coverplate screws, specialized superglue, and a porefiller epoxy goo!)

[mararmeisto]

Good fault-finding and repair job. It is a little frustrating that the wiring for that indicator on the transmission is so exposed, especially on a "4x4", but you found the problem and fixed it.