Reverse lights only work sometimes

So my reverse lights dont work alot of the time, they work when im in 4lo, and when I backup over long distances or when I floor it. Ive changed the bulbs and checked the connection at the backlights so their ok. I think its the neutral safety switch, but want to check everything i can before i replace it. any ideas?

most likely the neutral safety switch. if ya can, clean it really good, it should fix the issue.

NSS. Take it off, clean it, put it back on. They're pretty spendy new. Theres write ups on here about how to do it.

A few links to help you out.
http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoNSSrebuild.htm
http://www.jeepin.com/features/nss/

Hardest part it getting it off without breaking it. Go easy prying as the back half of the thing is plastic. Start spraying with a decent penetrating oil a few days a head of time (and no WD-40 is not a good penetrating oil).

If you do manage to break it, replacements are $130 or $150 depending on the year. http://www.teamgrandwagoneer.com/cgi-bin/partsSQL/search.cgi?query=neutral&catid=95. Or ebay might be cheaper (I grab them at the junkyard, clean them up and they sell for about $50).

If it's an AW4 automatic, check, clean, and adjust the NSS.

If it's a manual, just replace the reverse lamp switch outright (the contacts are getting dirty or burned. The manual switch can't be serviced, but is much less expensive!)

Im having a similar problem where my reverse lights have stopped working with the recent cold weather, but it seems that once the car is warmed up pretty good, or atleast drivin for a while then they work. When I start up in the AM no lights, but once ive gotten to where im going and go to park they r working, I guess ill try the cleaning.

NSS x5.
Very easy and worthwile. The only difficult part is getting the wires to go back where they were routed from the engine bay to the tranny. I tied a small rope to the molex connector and kept it on there when i cleaned the switch itself. After you re-install the switch, just pull up the rope from the engine bay and you can re-connect the plug.

maco98xj said:

NSS x5.
Very easy and worthwile. The only difficult part is getting the wires to go back where they were routed from the engine bay to the tranny. I tied a small rope to the molex connector and kept it on there when i cleaned the switch itself. After you re-install the switch, just pull up the rope from the engine bay and you can re-connect the plug.

Click to expand...

Yep, just tie the cord on before you pull the harness out. Then untie it and leave it in place. Once you clean the NSS, tie the end back on and pull the harness back up.

Which is why there's an "odd things" drawer in my toolbox - typically contains stuff like a hank of paraline, a bottle of white nail polish (great for witness marks, timing marks, and alignment marks,) a bottle of clear nail polish (works very well as a threadlocker for small screws,) a couple rolls of picture wire (works great for tying things out of the way, bundling parts, ...,) a packet or two of shower curtain hooks (for bundling parts together,) and a batch of other odd little goodies that alway come in so handy...

Heh, i got some of the odd things too, never thought of nail poish for threadlocker and I always used whiteout for witness/allignment marks.

But anyway, my friend had this issue. I dont know if we found some quick fix or something, but (if you have the auto) his problem was at the shifter itself. I think there was a sensor at the shift lever that wasnt being hit properly and we were able to use a spacer and zip tie to hold the sensor over or to fill in the gap that was there...

Sorry i cant be more specific, we did this well over a year ago as a last minute thing (before inspection) so I wasn't paying attention to details, just kinda went at it and got it working (and my Jeeps a 5 speed so I dont have this issue). His has been working fine since then.. Maybe he just got lucky, couldn't tell ya for sure, I just know we tore out the center console shifter cover and were checking for potential electrical issues in that area when we got it working.

When he had the shifter in gear it would occassionally work, occassionally not, and if he played with the shifter a bit it sometimes started working (put it into/out of gear, and mostly if he held it in a certain place, either pushing it towards park or a bit towards neutral, again, sorry for lack of specifics). Maybe someone else here would know a bit more about it, I just know we never tore out the NSS and we did manage to get his working.

Is zip-tieing the wires for the NSS back to where they were important? I'll be dealing with my NSS in the spring.