When i bought my 95 XJ i was totaled, had been sitting under a tree for a couple years and rats had built a nice nest on top of the motor. After hours of rebuilding, fixing and modifying i got it together and drive-able.

In the wonder state of California i have to do a brake and light inspection in order to get plates/registration, so i started replacing lenses, bulbs, etc. I got everything to work now except the back up lights.

I replaced the bulbs and got nothing. I used a test light at the socket and have nothing. I checked relays, fuses, wires, etc. nothing looks bad or seems wrong in the system.

Anybody have any ideas or things to try? My temp. registration is running out and I'm out of ideas.

 

In nc, after a certain year you don't have to have working reverse lights but 95 might be too late idk

 

Try checking your NSS. I know that if it gets dirty and such that it can cause a problem like that.

I have the issue with my NSS and my reverse lights almost never work.

 

I was just reading about that, im gonna try cleaning it this weekend. Anybody know what color the wires for the back up lights are coming out of the NSS?

 

Have someone put the car in reverse and wiggle the lever a lot of times the lights will come on when you do that, if thats the case the contacts in the NSS are corroded.

 

I tried that, even tried doing that to get a flicker with the test light, nothing.

 

Yeah, that "wiggle the shifter" trick will sometimes work, but not always. When mine stopped working, no amount of shifting, wiggling, forcing, hitting, or cursing would make the lights come on at all. EVER. Yet, it was still a filthy NSS that was at the heart of the issue. Once I took it apart and cleaned it, they work fine every time.

Now, if I could just get them a little brighter. Tried the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs but can' tell any difference...