Reversing light

Morning All,

When i bought my landy (89 110 van) the reversing light did not work, i have replaced the switch but still nothing, i tracked the cables into the engine bay and found only one was connected - is this correct if not could anyone tell me where the other needs to clip into as nothing obvious. Cheers

Should have an ignition switched live feed to the gear box switch and then a wire to the light itself.

Circuit is completed through the body chassis

Is the switch wound in far enough to activate when the gear lever is pulled across?

Worth using a multimeter to check you have 12v at the switch with the engine running - if you haven't check fuse. If you have check continuity (no wire breaks) in the wire from switch to rear light

Oh, and being silly, am guessing obvious stuff like the bulb itself and connectors in the lamp unit (they can corode) have checked out

yeh checked bulb etc, its all in bits at the mo just struck me as odd when i saw that only one wire was connected in the engine bay ?!?!?!?!

Buster has an article which shows the location of the switch:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f41/reverse-light-switch-renewal-63810.html

have checked everything regarding bulb, switch etc still nothing, can anyone tell me if they have 1 or 2 wires connected in the engine bay ???

No idea about wiring going into the engine bay but when my reverse light wasn't working it was the two wires on the reverse switch itself that I looked at. One was giving a live but the wire which went back to the light had a break in it somewhere. I just ran a new wire to the light, connected that and the existing live wire to a new reverse switch and it worked fine.

I assume you have tested both wires on the reverse switch?

Ah see there's ya problem - assuming i am able to know how to test the wires - bodywork i can do - electrics not a bloody clue !

As station house said, the circuit will be completed through the chassis, so you need one + wire from the fuse box to the switch, then switch to bulb, then bulb to chassis.

Have you tested the switch? Things to check: wire from fusebox to swich, does this read somwhere around 12 volts with the ignition switched on. Disconnect the wires from the switch and select reverse, you should have continuity accross the switch, if not the switch may need adjusting or replacing.

its a brand new switch i put on as other had snapped connector which i hoped was the problem, will have to admit idiots defeat and get a electrical tester thingy and see what i work out, was kinda just hoping it would be a case of plug the loose wire in x and it will work. I apologise so being so electrically challenged shall we say but its just one thing i aint got a foggiest about :-(

Unless you need a specific reading just make yourself up a test lamp. Far too many people use a multimeter when a test lamp would do and in some cases is better as it draws a current whereas a multimeter doesn't.

Small bulb in holder with two lengths of wire on is all you need .

Test the live wire to the reverse switch by connecting one end of your test lamp to it and the other to any earth point on the body. If it lights up (with the ignition on obviously) then your live is fine. As for the other one, run a wire direct from the reverse light and connect it to the live, if the reverse light comes on then the actual reverse light wire has a break somewhere.

Ah that has penetrated through my melon more and kind makes sense, thankyou for simplifying things for me