Obligatory beginning of post: The car is a 1991 Accord LX 5 speed coupe. The search function is down or I would have used it.

Now....

The problem is that the backup/reverse lights don't come on MOST of the time. By that, I mean that they stopped working for a few days, then worked for a couple days, and now don't seem to work at all.

I doubt very much that the problem is the bulbs since none of them turn on. I'm guessing that the problem is either that there's a fuse out or that the switch/relay/whatever that tells the car it's in reverse isn't getting turned on.

How can I diagnose this and what could it be?

Thanks for any help.

 

ok let's assume the bulbs are ok..chk the fuse under the dash # 1 10amp fuse,,,,,,,,,if it is ok,, on the tranny there is the back up lite switch it has 2 wires going to it, yellow and green/black, start car up, jump those 2 wires together if lites come on u got a bad switch, or poor connection at the switch,, if lites don't come on make sure u get power at the yellow wire ,,try this if no luck then we have to chk the wiring

 

deserthonda, thanks very much for your reply, it was perfect. I followed your diagnostic tips and here are the results:

The fuse is fine. I jumped the wires leading to the tranny and the reverse lights came on. So it looks like the problem is the switch.

If the problem is the switch itself (and not the connection), how hard is it to replace? Is it a simple bolt-off/on or do I have to take the transmission out?

 

it is a piece of cake to replace , get a new switch and replace it,, total time should take u no more than 5 minutes