I have found that the terminals on my reverse light sender switch have corroded off which is causing my reverse lights not to work.

I was wondering whether anybody knew if that I take the switch out weather oil will come out of the box?

Are a common item stocked in most shops or specialist to the X1/9?

I see they are for sale on alternativeautos.co.uk at £10 + P&P, quite expensive (?) and I would also have to wait for delivery...

Thanks.

The switch is common to to pretty much all the 80s/90s Fiat SOHC gearboxes (except for the FIRE engined cars) so it is more common than most X1/9 parts but sadly that doesn't make it common enough that it is carried as stock anywhere other than a specialist.

Ok thanks alot. Ill get one on order.

Do you know if I take it out will oil come out of the box at all???

I fitted a new one of these today, and just for reference oil doesn't come out of the gearbox when the switch is removed. (I am currently assuming my gearbox has the correct amount of oil)

The gearbox isn't *full* of oil - the fill line is only about half way so unless you tip the gearbox up the only thing that should come out is a nasty smell!

I understand that the gear box isn't full of oil.

What I didn't know however is whether or not the reverse light sender switch was above or below the oil level.

Just to revive this - sorry to sound dumb but whereabouts is the reverse sender switch?

On the side of the gearbox - just follow the wires down to it. The only other electrical connection is the earth strap.

Thanks Jim - onloy just got round to checking mine out. I've tried various connection checks etc. but my lights still do not come on. Is the switch prone to failure? May as well change it as they're only about £8 from Eurosport.....

BUMP for the above - are these prone to failure as I cannot see anywhere else that is causing my reverse lights not to come on?

So did the reverse light come on when you shorted the two contacts on the plug? If not then obviously the switch itself is not at fault. if you have a multimeter then try checking the resistance across the switch with reverse selected and without. It should show no resistance worth mentioning in gear and infinite out of gear. Anything else says the switch itself is messed up.

The switch itself is pretty robust but not completely foolproof. It is just a push-to-make switch so when the selection levers push the reverse gear into place they push on the switch.

It is much more likely however that the earth on the reverse light circuit is faulty/missing.

Thanks Jim will give it a go - do you know where the earth for the reverse circuit grounds to?