Intermittent brake/reversing lights

[blrx8]

Hi all,

I have just purchased a 2006 Honda Jazz. At the time, the reversing lights were not working, and I thought this would be a straight-forward fix. All other lights were working at the time.

I replaced the bulbs, still nothing. I tried checking the fuses although the diagrams were difficult to navigate and I do not have a user manual, but they all seemed ok. I then thought that the issue might have been with the gearbox reversing switch.

However, suddenly, the reversing lights started working. At the same time, one of the brake lights stopped working.

This lasted a couple of days, but it has now reverted to the original issue of fully-functioning brake lights, without any reversing lights. This to me indicates a short circuit somewhere, but I have no idea how to troubleshoot this.

Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

B.

[nowster]

It could be an earthing problem in the lamp cluster. A short circuit would have blown a fuse.

[blrx8]

@nowster thanks, you make a good point. Any tips on how to go about checking this?

[culzean]

Earthing problems used to happen in older cars because all the contact pins in the plugs were same size, despite the fact that the 'earth' ( common return ) pin had to carry combined current of indicator, rear side light, brake light, fog and reversing light, this meant earth pin used to heat up, corrode and make a bad contact ( high resistance ).  Main symptom was other lights in the cluster flashing dim when indicator was activated as the current looked for other paths to earth. In your case may be corrosion on some pins, need to locate the loom and main plug and plug and unplug it a few times to clean the contacts a bit.

[bus_ter]

You could check all the electrical connections and clean with electrical contact cleaner. If anything is intermittent I always think bad connection somewhere.

I'm always suspicious of anyone selling anything with a fault 'that's a quick easy fix'. Well if that's the case why wouldn't you do it before selling the item to make it easier to sell?

[blrx8]

Thanks for the advice!

In fairness, it was myself who noticed and assumed it'd be a simple fix, the seller was apparently unaware of the issue. The car cost me £750 so I really can't complain, mechanically it runs perfect (so far). I was inevitably going to have to deal with something at this price.

I'll try cleaning all the contacts and hope that resolves the problem.

[bus_ter]

I think these cars are a good buy at the prices they go for. The engine and mechanical parts have proved to be very reliable and robust. As long as it's not rusting away I think they're a cheap way to drive something reasonably reliable and dependable.