Reverse Lights E30 M50 swap

[MaxBell]

Hey guys, I'm taking the car in to safety in an hour and I need to know how to hook up the reverse lights.

I saw in another thread something about the E36 engine harness having an output that has to be wired into the blue/white wire under my shifter? I already have something from the tranny (325e) plugged into the body harness but obviously I still don't have lights.

ANY help is appreciated, I'm really getting down to the wire here.

[FredK]

If you use the stock E30 backup light switch and wiring harness, you don't have to run a wire from the E36 engine wiring harness.

It sounds like you have a bad backup switch.

[eurosport22]

so wait... are you running the g260? if so then yea fredk has it. nothing gets changed from stock.

[MaxBell]

Ok, so I got under the car and the switch was unplugged. Plugged it back in but still nothing!

GRAAHHH!!!

I'll replace the switch and report back.

[xwill112x]

Ohm check your wires might be snipped somewhere n ya dont know it

[MaxBell]

According to the ETM the wire comes out of the trans, under the shifter console, hits a plug, then goes to the trunk.

I had the trans out, could it be that the wires have been switched on the reverse switch? Or does it matter.

[eurosport22]

im pretty sure its just a open or closed switch to complete a circuit, the position of wires should not matter

[scottinAZ]

position of wires does not matter. the switch is either open or closed. check for broken/chafed wires from the connector under the shift boot to the switch on the trans. not uncommon for them to short out/break and fuck things up

[MaxBell]

I checked the shift boot area and it all looked good.

Then I check it more thoroughly and found that one of the pins has gotten pushed out of the plug.

Resoldier a plug in and it all came alive.

[Gooch]

Nice work, thanks for posting the solution. I hate when a problem/issue goes unanswered.

[MaxBell]

As do I. I always try to get back and answer when I find the problem. Having good thread titles and posts helps for Google Searches too!