[007dust]

Traded for this vehicle recently and am troubleshooting this problem with no luck so far. The bulbs are good and through research I have found all the ground locations, but have yet to examine and/or clean them. This truck has over 300K miles and some things are just wore out on it, (they will be what I check first though). From what I've found on this truck so far I'm leaning towards either the neutral safety switch on the trans or the switch on the lower steering column, (both of which can cause this issue correct?). I guess right now I am looking for confirmation that both of these switches can cause this issue and to see if anyone else who had this problem out there may have any ideas on where to start first.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Rhotpursuit]

Traded for this vehicle recently and am troubleshooting this problem with no luck so far. The bulbs are good and through research I have found all the ground locations, but have yet to examine and/or clean them. This truck has over 300K miles and some things are just wore out on it, (they will be what I check first though). From what I've found on this truck so far I'm leaning towards either the neutral safety switch on the trans or the switch on the lower steering column, (both of which can cause this issue correct?). I guess right now I am looking for confirmation that both of these switches can cause this issue and to see if anyone else who had this problem out there may have any ideas on where to start first.

Thanks in advance for any help!



And to the admin Rhotpursuit, I have seen admins complain on almost every forum I have ever been to about not searching for their problem from the search bar, but instead being lazy and just creating a new thread, and this is exactly what I did. I found a thread directly related to my problem, (which had some pretty useful information) and I asked for further help, but for some reason this triggered you. Helpful tip, if you don't want someone to use an old thread, maybe disable comments in them after 6 months or so instead of getting angry about someone trying to resolve an issue by searching without bothering people who have already been through this and posted about it before. That is after all, why they are there in the first place.

awaits permaban for having an opinion

I sent you a pm with a link to the Rules. Everybody is entitled to their opinions.

 

[oldeerslayer]

The one on the trans can cause the problem, but my money is on one of the fuses or the ground wires from the bulbs to the ground junction blocks in the rear. A simple test light or volt meter will tell you if you have 12v to the backup bulbs when the truck is in reverse and the key on.
1999 reverse light wiring:

 

[007dust]

Awesome, thanks for the schematic on this! I'll test for voltage at the bulbs. Hopefully I'll have power there, if so I'll start with the ground junction blocks, then work my way forward till I get somewhere. If not, then I'll be going for those two switches.

I'll update when I get somewhere, thanks again!

 

[007dust]

OK, with the truck running and in reverse I ran a meter to positive in the socket and grounded directly to the body. It's showing voltage but oddly it's only around 5 volts. Checking from the reverse bulb socket showed nothing so easily could be a ground issue, but I don't get the low voltage situation. I tried the ground from the side marker lamp and got nothing, (the bulb was blown so not sure if it's working, the parking/brake bulb works fine but it was too hot to pull to check from that ground).

It started raining and I have to work tonight so that's as far as I got.

 

[Rhotpursuit]

Could be corrosion under the wire insulation, or broken wires. The socket itself could be bad. It happens a lot.

 

[007dust]

Could be, I have a feeling this is gonna be a fun one :-(

 

[007dust]

Bought new tires today and took the opportunity to give the body a good look from below while it was up on the rack. I think I've got a pretty good idea where to start looking for the problem now . Some peoples children sigh