reverse light issue

[Damien B.]

Hi,
I m having an issue that i cant seem to fix, on my 71 satellite one of the previous owner disconected the column shifter to place a B&M floor shifter but he left the steering column as is.
I never really bothered with it since i just drive the car during the day and in good weather condition but i realised that the reverse light/back up light at the rear of the car arent turning on.

I know there is a swith on the TF727 so i jacked up the car and looked at the transmission, there is indeed wiring going from the fire wall to the transmission

The turn sight and brake signal work fine but i cant find how to make the reverse light work anyone could give me some advice or point me in the right direction.
Is there a reverse switch in the steering column that he never bothered reconnecting to the new shifter or is there something else i should look for.

I ll post some picture some other days since in France our garage are litteral shoe box and i barely have 1 foot on each side when it s parked so it s hard to do some work on our car unless if park it somwhere on a parking lot and start working on it

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Greetings from Spain!

The source for the reverse light comes from the fuse box on acc side. It's a white wire running between fuse box and bulkhead conector ( firewall ). Then becomes in a black wire on harness up to the NSS at transmission. Once reachs the NSS and transmission gets into reverse, the NSS sources the black wire traced white back to the firewall, and becomes in a white wire traced black into the cab up to kick panel where the rear light harness becomes it into a violet wire up to the tail lights.

So the first test to be made could be check the black wire is energized at NSS plug with ign key in RUN or ACC ( assuming fuses are good ). If this wire is not energized, you have a broken wire, bad contact at Bulkhead plug or damaged fuse.

If the wire is energized, then the problem could be the NSS itself, or the wire between NSS and passenger cabin... or anywhere up to the tail lights.

You can jump out outer terminals at NSS plug and reverse light should turn on. If it does, the NSS ios definitelly damaged. If not, some of the wiring is damaged

IS NOT UNCOMON get a damaged NSS harness because the oil and heat on this harness running up to transmission gets easilly hardened and broken the wire cover, then easier to get broken the copper strands internally at NSS plug

 

[Damien B.]

Thanks a lot
I will try to check this but i m lacking the tools to test the power in the wires, i hope i can borrow one from a friend if he still has one

 

[Nacho-RT74]

You can start with a jumper wire between both outer terminals and discard the NSS. Or even disconect the NSS harness from bulkhead and jump out the cavities there and will discard the harness AND NSS.

 

[Damien B.]

i dont have the wiring at my disposal to bypass everything
if you have the ability to take some pictre point wich wire i should be looking for on the bulkhead connector
i m not sure i ll be able to work on it today since it s sunday and i have lot of stuff to get ready for my daughter to be good to go for school tomorrow

 

[Nacho-RT74]

just need a piece of wire about 3 or 4 cm long... damn even a bent paper clip will work LOL ( becarefull not to make contact with sheetmetal around thought )

Fuse for this is the bottom one on the ACC row at fuse box. Then It feeds the number 8 cavity on bulkhead conector at firewall. Number 7 is the return to feed the tail light reverse lights

 

[Damien B.]

I have my answer as for why my reverse light aren't working



Using paperclip worked the reverse light turned on.

any specific recommandation on how to replace the 3 pin inhibitor?

do i need to have the transmission in a specific gear once i place receive my order ?

 

[Nacho-RT74]

juts lift the car from rear driver side higher as posible ( but safe to you ) to prevent lot of oil coming out from hole and done. No need to put on any specific gear.

It allways can get some oil coming out from it so be prepaired for that, but the higher the car is lifted less chance to get oil coming out

 

[Damien B.]

I ll post the result in a few weeks once my order arrives.
I already know it s going to be a pita because of the lack of clearance but i m pretty sure i ll manage
I ll also get a working on my kickdown linkage, it s not tight enought imho

 

[Nacho-RT74]

I never have had any problem replacing the NSS, not about clearence or any other dificulty about that. As far I recall the hex size is 13/16" ? which is the same than the spark plugs so the same spark plug socket will work as an extension for the hex head. Can't recall. Adjustable wrench works too... or also L shaped closed wrenchs. No need for some big torque, so it won't have any tightening problem when removing or installing the new one. The new one should get a cup shaped seal, so it won't get any big torque, just tight enough and keeping the seal safe.

Just losee it with any tool, 1/4 or half of turn is enough and rest will be with your own hand

 

[Nacho-RT74]

I hope you found and paid correctly for the NSS. They can be overpriced around on $50-100 on resto shops and ebay while on regular part shops they are on $10-20 rate ( USA prices, can't tell if any European parts shop could get this in stock )

 

[Damien B.]

ebay stuff hope it s worth the 14$ +20 shipping

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Cool. Rockauto could get you better shipping price thought. I just made a Cart ( shipping to Spain ) and getting the Standard brand ( US12.5 ) they offered me a postal service on $11.99 ( 3 to 10 bussines days for delivery ) plus $5.14 for customs charges.

but using Fedex just $12.99 as shipping and doesn't appear any Custom fee ( maybe would need to be paid when getting it at home )

 

[Damien B.]

Received my order today, i cancelled the ebay order and went with rockautolike you suggested.
It came from the USA with the infamous made in China... I ll put it on this weekend and post the result.
Not like i care too much because i plan on ordering a new transmission and a new engine later this year

Wonder where i could order a decent reliable transmission. i ve heard conflicting report from TCI

 

[Damien B.]

Well after installing the new neutral safety switch and reconnecting the wiring the back up lights didnt turn on when I put the shifter in reverse.
I guess I have another issue or I plugged the wiring the wrong way

Ps even inclining the car forward and with the driver side even further up I still had a huge drop of transmission fluid draining.

 

[RJS]

Have you tried moving the shift lever on your column down to reverse?
Ron

 

[Damien B.]

havent had the chance because its really hard to get my hands in with the exhaust pipe in the way and it s frezing on the concrete of the garage. Tomorrow I ll try to just unscrew the inhibitor and just link it to the NSS and push it to see what s up

 

[Nacho-RT74]

The NSS is actually normally closed, so pushing it will cut the power.

The switch is the ball which makes both functions, the ground on P and N, and internally the reverse contact.

There is no way to plug it wrong. Will work on any position

 

[RJS]

"Hi,
I m having an issue that i cant seem to fix, on my 71 satellite one of the previous owner disconected the column shifter to place a B&M floor shifter but he left the steering column as is."

This is what you said in beginning of post, so why can't you just shift the original column lever into rev.?

Ron

 

[Damien B.]

my bad i thought you meant moving the lever on the transmission to the reverse position.
the linkage coming from the column shifter has been removed now i can only shift gears with the floor shifter but I will try this even thou on the steering wheel column there isnt a lever anymore