canbaufo

Some of you helped me out tremendously a few months ago in this thread near the bottom of page 1 of this forum:

https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/car...-blink-872493/

I greatly appreciate all the help. Ever since I resolved that issue another possibly related issue has popped up. As the title says, reverse simply doesn't always trigger the backup lights. I'm about 10 hours deep into this and becoming very frustrated.

I've tried three different pairs of bulbs and they all act the same way (including the correct bulbs that have nipples in the proper place to "lock" into the grooves of the bulb sockets. I have reassembled the bulb sockets so the wire terminals make more solid contact with the bulbs. I didn't have bulb grease handy so I used what bulb grease was left (still greasy and not dried up) and some dielectric tune up grease, which I wouldn't think to be a problem?

At first the problem was intermittent via jiggling the bulbs in the sockets. They'd come on for me, but I'd keep the car in reverse with the key on and watch as I'd install the taillights ...then they'd go out.

I've checked the ground wire in the trunk and traced the power wire's route, taken apart some of the factory covered crimp jobs, jiggled wires all over the place ...can't find a thing wrong. Twice I've observed an anomaly; I'll take it in and out of reverse, the lights will light up (both of them, BRIGHT!!!!), keep it in reverse and they stay on. Take it out of gear and put it back in reverse ...nothing. Try several times with starting and shutting car off, rocking it back and forth, taking it in and out of reverse with different methods, etc ...they still won't light up again.

So I haven't traced the power (green) wire down the driver-side yet or gotten UNDER the car to trace any wires yet. Although I have removed the center console and the shifter boot and found a connector plugged into the side of the transmission. I jiggled it's wires and unplugged/replugged it ...no effect. I even pulled the "CAMARO" panel off the rear so I'd have better access to the wiring and have found nothing wrong yet.

I have pulled every fuse and relay and everything looks good and has no effect. This problem may be somehow related to the replacement of my taillights with LED's earlier this year in the thread linked in this post, although I think probably by freak occurrence. The reverse lights are on their own wiring and simply screw into the taillight housing, but the wiring shares a common ground with the taillights at least. The taillights themselves work fantastic with no issues whatsoever

Sorry so long but I figure the more detail I provide the faster and easier it is to target. Basically I'm convinced it has something to do with whatever triggers / signals the reverse lights via the transmission going into reverse. If anyone's had a similar experience and has tips or suggestions it's greatly appreciated. I have so many hours in this I don't want to do a search right now if I can avoid it ...so I figured I'd give this a shot for now. Gotta walk away from it for awhile to avoid becoming fighting mad. I only give a crap about this because my sticker's dead and I need it to pass inspection. The LED taillights are so bright I really don't "need" reverse lights, but that doesn't matter to the inspection stations.

Thanks in advance if anyone has time.