Back up lights shorted

B1Toad

B1Toad

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Jan 15, 2023
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Arizona
Was able to jump switch and short still present. Will have to trace it out. Things look good at the rear lights but I understand after leaving the switch the circuit goes up to the firewall then to the pass side kick panel and from there on to the rear.
 
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It looks like my issue is two-fold. When I removed the connector from the switch and jumped it I still had the short. I know this for a fact as not only did my in line test lamp indicate a short, I also removed the test light and tried a fuse which blew instantly. When I unplugged the connector under the hood and checked with a DMM the short was gone from the switch side but still present on the load side. Next I pulled the plastic cover along the door jamb by the driver's seat and inspected the bundle. The part that comes down from the kick panel area lays against a corner of metal. I pulled it up and saw some tiny perforations in the plastic covering with bits of wire insulation showing thru. I slit it open and looked everything over but couldn't really see any damage that exposed copper but the short had disappeared when I pulled it out, so I wrapped it in engine harness tape followed by a layer of Scotch 33 and put it all back together, the short was still gone. Keep in mind all this time I had the switch disconnected and jumped. No short and the backup lights worked. Then I plugged the switch back in and I had a short!

Thinking it must be in the harness laying on top of the transmission and shorting when moved, I jumped it again and moved it every which way, no short. Plugged it back in and moved it every which way and the short remained (I'm using a 12 volt incandescent lamp in line to keep from blowing fuses).
Now I know there was a short when I bypassed the switch because I tried a fuse and it blew instantly.

So in light of the fact that this short first appeared intermittently and now all the time it can only be that there was an intermittent short in the wire harness at the door jamb and later the switch went bad making two shorts. It's the only thing I can figure.

At first I was convinced it was the harness on top of the transmission but even when I carefully unplug it without moving the harness and plug in the jumper the short goes away.

So I'm back to needing a switch and can't decide which one to get. I can order Echlin from Napa, or Standard from O"reilly. I also see Crown and Omix. The only one I saw someone here report on was the Standard brand and that was @AndyG and I believe the only issue he had was a replacement plug not fitting the pins tightly. Any suggestions?
 
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Get Echlin is what I hear the most - if you get a standard keep the reciept- took me 3-4 tries to get a winner
 
AndyG said:
Get Echlin is what I hear the most - if you get a standard keep the reciept- took me 3-4 tries to get a winner
Click to expand...

Well damit Echlin is out of stock everywhere with no ETA. I can get a Standard from Amazon delivered tomorrow for $62, or a Borg Warner shipped in about 2 weeks for $116.

Once you got a good Standard everything has been good?
 
And here it is for $57 at Mopar Parts Giant. I thought these were NLA?
mopar parts giant.jpg
 
B1Toad said:
Well damit Echlin is out of stock everywhere with no ETA. I can get a Standard from Amazon delivered tomorrow for $62, or a Borg Warner shipped in about 2 weeks for $116.

Once you got a good Standard everything has been good?
Click to expand...

Once I got one that worked had no issues - at all

I always consider standard a good brand in the past but I’m sure they started bringing in things from overseas- And vehicle self communications have gotten more complex
 
Did you use a 7/8" 02 sensor socket? I have 2 7/8" 02 sensor sockets and neither one seems to want to fit over the rubber end cap.

edit: My 02 sensor sockets have a very narrow slot for the wires, about 1/4". Looking at the Harbor Freight one it has a much larger opening, much like a line wrench. I'll probably have to get one of those.

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