1850 reversing lights switch

[Dougthedolly]

Hi ! i am very proud new owner of a Dolomite 1850 manual (1974) . Am trying to sort a few niggles. The reversing lights don't work, so have checked bulbs and then decided to buy a new gearbox switch . Can anyone tell me where this is located and how to access it for change? I recently did the gearstick cups/springs and didnt see it down the housing aperture(hope I don't have to take all that off again!
Thanks
Doug

[James467]

Welcome Doug! Do you know if you have a 3 rail or single rail gearbox? On a single rail the switch is at the lever end, on a 3 rail the switch is in the top cover under the selector, a git to get to with the box in and cover on! They don't fail that often so it could just be a wiring issue.

Show us some pics of your 1850.

[Carledo]

What James said ^^^^^

Further clarification, single rail gearbox (reverse next to 3rd) the reverse light switch is a tiny brass thing on the passenger side of and just below the gear lever mounted horizontally. You have half a chance of getting to this from under the car with most stuff in situ though dropping the gearbox crossmember helps.

3 rail gearbox (reverse next to 1st) To access the reverse light switch is tunnel out and gearchange extension housing off, the switch is located in the rear left corner of the top selector housing mounted vertically, an aluminium hexagon about 1.5" across. But you SHOULD be able to see it (or at least infer where it is) by looking up from underneath and following the wires (again, dropping the crossmember may be beneficial) Before you take a load of stuff off, try and ascertain that both wires are firmly attached via their spade terminals to the switch, they do have a habit of falling off!

Steve

[Dougthedolly]

Thanks James and Steve ! It is a three rail gearbox and as I have just battled with the gearlever bush repair kit (especially the spring washer holding the smaller spring down!!) I dont fancy getting the tunnel out at the minute! I haven't used all of the repair kit as some of the components have to be replaced inside the front cover I believe. So I will try and check the wiring and hope its that causing the issue before anything else! I assume you cant get to it just by removing the front cover from the engine bay?!

Cheers both
Doug

[Toledo Man]

I've moved the thread here because it was a technical question.

[Richard the old one]

I am assuming the set up is the same as in a 1500. The reversing lights in my new 1500 were not working so I started by checking to see if I was getting 12v to the lamp holder and at the same time I checked that I had a good earth within the bulb holder as this can be a problem. The way to overcome this is to make a soldered connection within the bulb holder. I then checked under the car as there are two connectors that connect the loom to the reversing light switch. I found one of these had come apart so I thought that I had found the problem but the lights still did not come on. I then checked that I was getting 12v at the connector to the reversing light switch loom. This is located on the nearside by the clutch bell housing. The connector is prone to failing to make a good contact. I did not have any volts here so the next place to check was the fuse box a quick wiggle of the connections solved the problem. There are a lot of items fed from the same fuse , heater motor, stop lamps, drivers and passengers seat light, rear window heater and hazard light switch so I was surprised that this solved the problem as I had not noticed that any of the items feed from this common feed were not working. Time will tell if there is some other problem.

[Dougthedolly]

Thanks Richard, Plenty for me to check over there! I haven't been underneath yet but hoping to on thursday so will report later!
Cheers
Doug

[oily66]

If you do resort to taking the gearbox tunnel out, it’s a good shout to cut a hatch into it for future repairs. Then you only need to lift the carpet rather than the all the rest of the paraphernalia.