So some of you may have seen a couple of my threads mentioning how my reverse lights don't work. I've tried to narrow it down and i think I may have found the source of the problem.

My car is a 1995 civic EX. 4dr, d16z6, and manual transmission.

It has a brand new reverse switch on the tranny (bought it as soon as I got the car and realized the lights didn't work.
The switch has 12v on both sides (wires) with the key in the ON II position.
I tested the fuse, or at least what I thought was the right fuse.

IIRC, the fuse no.15 should be for the reverse lights and should have a 10amp fuse in it. Correct??

One side had 12v, the other was dead.

I tested at the harness plug behind the back seat. Following the wiring from the actual socket, i believe it was a black w/ green stripe 12 or 14 gauge wire (possibly inverse colors, can't remember). By the looks of it, it looks like the harness plugs those reverse light wires into a bigger wire ofthe same pattern (again, black w/ green or inverse).

Can someone confirm that is the right color for the reverse light wiring? And that the reverse light fuse is fuse 15 in the under-dash fuse box, and that it takes a 10 amp fuse?? And if I plug a multimeter into the dead side of that fuse, and the other end into the plug behind my back seat, and have the multimeter set to test for continuity, I should have continuity in ideal conditions, correct???

 

Since you have voltage at the switch, fuse 15 is fine. Now go back to the rear of the car.

The power wire at the reverse light socket is Grn/Blk. If it has voltage to body ground, then the bulb may be blown or the black ground wire is bad.

 

10 amps seems a little excessive for back up lights if thats all thats on the fuse. to check the switch pull the wires off and touch them together or put a jumper between them if they dont reach. if the lights come on youve got a bad switch. Or try and find out what actually pushes the switch and push it manually.

 

10A is the correct amp rating for fuse 15. This fuse protects the back up lights and also other circuits.

 

Fuse 15 is good. No voltage to the back up lights on the grn/blk wire on ANY of the harness plugs. So I know where the green/blk wire ends, but where does it start?

 

The Grn/Blk wire comes from the switch on top of the transmission. If in reverse, there is voltage on both sides of the switch, then there is a break in the Grn/Blk wire somewhere between the switch and the lights.

 

Are there any other junctions to test? I thought the wire would have come out from the back of the fuse box at fuse no. 15 and then run to the lights in the back. Does it hook up to a nother harness anywhere? Between the reverse switch on the transmission and the lights in the back makes it kinda hard to narrow down...

 

The circuit is arranged like this:

battery --> hood fuse box --> ignition switch --> fuse 15 --> switch on tranny --> light bulb --> ground

If you have voltage on both sides of the switch but not at the bulb, then there's an electrical open somewhere in between. I don't have schematics showing the connectors between these points. Pierce the wire insulation and test for voltage at convenient points in between to help pinpoint the open.

 

See, the thing is, at the back seat, there is 0 voltage on the multimeter. On the harness plugs for the light sockets, it reads .01v to .04v...

*edit* however, it could be possible I wasn't grounding the multimeter rightwhen testing at the back seat. I will check again when I get off of work.

 

Just tested it again. Still no
voltage at the back seat.