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reverse switch or NSS

Simple Man

NAXJA Member #979
Location
Nevada
My reverse lights are acting up. At one point I could put it in reverse and count to ten before they came on, now they don't come on at all.

I've read a lot about cleaning out the Neutral Safety Switch (in a plastic bag) but the switch that my book lead me to was different.

I've got a '98 XJ ands the switch I was lead to is on the side of the auto trans and seems to be magnetic. A single 10mm bolt holds it in place on the drivers side of the trans. Any moving parts would be inside the switch. I couldn't get it to close with a magnet or steel bar.

I'm assuming I'm looking at the wrong switch. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appriciated.
 
OK - The NSS I have usually seen on the AW4 is about 3-4" across, looks like a quarter of a circle, and is on the opposite end of the "shift shaft" that gets turned by the shifter cable when you move the lever in the centre console. It is retained by an adjuster bolt near the top, and a collet/nut on the shift shaft proper. Remove both and play with it to get it out of there. You will find it on the right side of the transmission case.

NOW, that is for those of us with older XJs - I know it's true until 1990, I think it's true up to 1995-6, but I don't know beyond that with any degree of certainty. Beyond that, I'm a bit at sea to see you having this trouble with a six-year-old switch - it usually seems to be 10 or so before you have to take it to bits.

Look for a fan-shaped switch, as described above, with a wiring harness going up and forward. If/when you find it, the plastic bag is only needed to take it apart (any bag you can close around your hands will do - it's just that the springs and contacts are such a PITA to find if they launch on you!) You can clean and assemble it on the bench with no trouble.

A small point I figured out - when you put it back together, you not only want to put a layer of Ox-Gard on everything (check your local hardware store, electrics department) inside, you will want to apply a THIN bead of RTV black on the case mating surfaces. This will help seal the case and keep crud out.

Let us know what you find. I don't think they ever changed the NSS, but I can't swear to it (no matter how much I swear at it!)

5-90
 
Try www.jeepin.com for instructions-features-how to articles-. I cleaned mine in about an hour. There are small contacts that can be lost- but the grease in the switch usually holds it it place. Use a school eraser to clean the contacts before reassembly.
 
Cleaned my '92 NSS after reading the article at jeepin.com. It's a good article with pictures. The article shows the NSS completely removed, but this is a pain since the harness is cable tied at several hard-to-reach spots. I just seperated the NSS from the trans, then opened it (by removing the small screws) while still underneath the vehicle. I was able to clean everything without taking the harness loose. It is a pain to do it this way but I think undoing the cable ties would have been worse.

Yes, watchout you don't loose the 2 contacts and 2 springs in the wiper arm. The old grease will most likely hold them in (this is really the problem when a NSS is intermittent) but you can't count on it.
 
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