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Reverse lights

R

RustyRed

Active Member
I noticed my reverse lights were working when I got the car out of the paint shop.

Then as part of the alignment the power steering control valve needed to be replaced. After that the linkage between the gear shift and the tranny was knocked loose.

I put the linkage back on and the reverse lights are not working.

Is the switch that turns on the reverse light incorporated into the neutral safety switch or is there a separate switch?

I was thinking they are basically the same thing with both functions incorporated into the one switch?
 
You are thinking correctly - the same switch assembly is used for NSS and backup lights on the C4 cars.
 
Thanks for the confirm. I am pretty busy with work today and didn't have time to look it up but I want to get it ordered pretty fast.

My thinking being if the reverse light part of it is toast then odds are the neutral safety part might not be far behind and I don't want to get stuck somewhere.
 
Maybe it's just adjusted wrong, now that you reset to shift rod?

FWIW, it's pretty easy to jumper the MSS if you break down somewhere. You have to make sure no operator error until you fix it though. :scar
 
It maybe adjusted wrong but it's getting pretty old so I am probably just going to replace it. Figure what the heck...I've replaced everything else :lol
 
For 65/66's the reverse light system can be misleading. Near the fuse box is a yellow male bullet plug that looks like it should plug into a yellow three-prong female connector. The male plug goes to the reverse lights via the tailight harness and passes through a 2 or 3 prong plug to do so. That male plug should plug into the actual reverse light harness, separate from the main harness. It should not plug into the yellow female 3 prong plug, which is ACC power. If it is, your reverse lights will always be on with the key on.
 
It should be wired ok Mid. I haven't changed anything under the dash since the lights were working properly. I have my radio plugged into the three prong / yellow acc jack and I believe that is the only think plugged in there.

I was under the car last night looking at something else and while I was under there I gave the NSS a fast look. It looks pretty worn and the wires look a little sketchy so I was thinking it would be a good idea to replace it since it's only about $40 to do it. Looks like a couple of wires coming off the NSS might have gotten too close to the exhaust pipe in that area so thinking replacing it wouldn't hurt my feelings. Especially since the wife's car is having "issues" and I've been basically driving the Mustang like my DD the last couple of days.
 
The lights are working...got around to putting in the new NSS today while the boys were playing with a friend in the yard.

Wasn't too bad to replace. Well it wasn't too bad once it dawned on me I needed to line up the holes with a drill bit with the car in neutral instead of in park anyway. :lol
 
"RustyRed" said:
Well it wasn't too bad once it dawned on me I needed to line up the holes with a drill bit with the car in neutral instead of in park anyway. :lol
Click to expand...

Of all the Neutral/Safety switches I've installed, I've never had to line it up like that. I've read about it a million times, but never had to do it for some bizarre reason.
 
"johnpro" said:
Of all the Neutral/Safety switches I've installed, I've never had to line it up like that. I've read about it a million times, but never had to do it for some bizarre reason.
Click to expand...

I couldn't get the bolt holes on the switch to line up and get the holes lined up to stick the drill bit in the switch with it in the park position. I started wondering what the heck was wrong then it dawned on me that if it's called a neutral safety switch then maybe the car needed to be in neutral, LOL!

The first time I thought I had it right but the car would only start in reverse and I knew that wasn't right. Might have made a cool trick / kill switch though :)
 
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