reverse light doesn't work
 

03 mini S 6speed

hey guys, new to the forum and to minis. just bought one a few weeks ago. and i DID see a thread that talked about this, however, like any thread, they end up going off topic after a bit.

my reverse light doesn't work.

I checked the bulb, it's good. I bought a brand new sensor for the transmission, and when i took the old one out, i put a volt meter to it and it seemed to work just fine. I replaced it anyway. still nothing.

any additional thoughts? i don't particularly want to re-rout all of the wiring from trans to tail light, but i suppose i will if i have to.

is there a fuse or something i'm missing? i have looked in the fuse box under the bonnet and didn't see any bad ones.

thanks in advance.

The grounds on the tail light fixture can get corroded and cause weird problems. Visually inspect, but it's pretty easy to test. Put a volt meter between the reverse bulb wire and a good ground point and see if you read voltage when it's put into reverse.

might sound like an odd question...
which tail lights do you have...
I ask because some folks "upgrade" to the newer or after market tail lights, and the wiring is not setup for them...

The pre-Facelift cars (before 2005 model year cars) should have a backup light in the REAR BUMPER, down low...if newer face-lift tails are added...the backup lights built into the tails will nor work...the lower, center bumper backup light is still needed.

The fuse is F13 in the drivers footwell.

wow.. i forgot i had this thread... it's been almost a year exactly... and i still haven't been able to fix it. and i suppose its a little late, but, the answer to zippy's question is, i have the aftermarket whatever it's called kit on the car that came with it when i bought it. no telling if it's the original reverse light. at least, i wouldn't know. i don't even remember at this very second what that kit is called, but... it's the common one. and it uses the same side marker lights, so i can only assume it uses the same tail light.

Funny thing is though, in the last year, i have checked the socket, replaced the switch, visibly inspected the wires under the car for anything obvious, lots of crap. just about everything obvious. but it got to the point where i didn't really care.. i just rev the motor when i'm backing up and back out slowly. it hasn't been an issue yet.. so i'll leave it that way.