Just curious as to whether or not I can just splice some wires and hook them up to a switch? They haven't worked for the longest time(b4 I bought the car and I don't feel like checking the wiring on the tranny). Thanks people.

 

It'd be just as easy to replace the backup light switch and do it right in the first place.

 

Look at the main harness plug that is just inside the firewall; it has about ten wires in it. There should be two large plugs that are similar, the back up wire is red with either a blue or green strip I think; anyways just make sure all of the wires are firmly pressed into the plugs. My reverse lights went out and I traced it back to a wire that had come out of the plug. Just check both plugs by looking into the back of the plug and seeing if there are any spots where it looks like a wire used to be. There are a few spots that never had wires in them but they will have a lil rubber piece in the hole to keep dirt and moisture out. If you find a blank hole in the back of one of thos plugs you need to locate the wire which is most likely just hanging down by the starter. I actually had two wires out but I'm still not sure what the other was. Sometimes when working on the tranny or changing a clutch, it's easy to catch something on one of those wires and yank it out of the plug. You may have also pulled it off the tranny, or blew a fuse, or maybe burnt out the lights. My money is on a yanked out wire.

 

It's pretty common to have the switch go out in both the FC/FD and Miata. The switch contacts get dirty inside and won't send enough voltage to light reverse bulbs. Check the wires first but if they are okay then you probably have a bad switch.

There is a thread (that is easy to search for) on putting a relay in or just replacing the switch. Both are reasonably quick and easy as well as very cheap.

So don't just micky mouse a manual aftermarket switch in, either replace the switch or wire up a relay.

 

On mine the connector at the tranny was loose


Hey Samps, where is that plug u are talking about

 

Right behind the trailing coil. Kinda in front of the brake booster. There are two large plugs with about 10 wires in each. The wires have lil pins crimped on them and pushed in from behind. I ended up removing the two plugs and spliced on butt connectors to all of the wires. It was an all day job due to the tight space but my plugs just would not hold onto the wires. This may have been just a problem on my car, but it is worth a look if you have any sort of electrical troubles.

 

Definately fix the problem the right way, no reason to have a manual switch in place. Your more likely not to use a manual switch when backing up in a hurry, etc. Besides, It's always nice to have things done right.