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1949 98 Back-up Light Switch Adjustment


Guest starfire

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Guest starfire

Is there any adjustment that can be made to the switch? When I put the car in reverse the lights do not come on. If I hold the gear selector all the way down, the lights do come on. It seems like maybe the switch needs to move forward, but I cannot get under the car to see if there is any adjustment available. I can feel one bolt holding the switch in place. If I loosen that bolt can I move the whole switch body forward?

thanks,

Alan

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest 1951Olds88

Quick question, where is your back-up switch located? I have an 88 for which it looks as if the switch is locked on (opposite of your problem), but I want to try to adjust too.

TIA

Stefan

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...
Guest starfire

Stefan, sorry so late with this answer. I missed seeing your post. On the 49 the back-up light switch is under the floor pan. The linkage comes down from the selector lever and goes to the transmission. It is there where the linkages converge that the switch is located. I ended up taking the old one out, found out a small flat spring on the switch actuator (it looks like a paddle) was missing. I also found out the button style switch doesn't work properly, it has to be almost all the way down before it closes. I found a new spring online as well as a new switch. Well, what was advertised as the correct switch. Turns out, it looks exactly like the correct switch, even has the same numbers on it, but this switch is normally closed and then opens when the button is depressed. So with this switch the back-up lights would always be on, except when the car was in reverse. Weird. Then I found another one online. When it arrived it looked exactly like the other two (the original and the normally closed one) but it operated properly. When the button was depressed slightly, the circuit closes. So now when the little paddle with the spring hits the button when the car is put in reverse the back-up lights should come on. I say "should" as I have to wait for the temperatures to get back up to something tolerable before I can install it and test it and know for sure.

Oh, and after getting the car up on ramps (those plastic RhinoRamps are nice!) I was able to discover that yes, I can loosen that bolt and move the switch back and forth to get it just where it needs to go.

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