Hello all, I'm new here, this is my first post.

I've been looking around to see if I could find an answere to my issue with my PT Cruiser, but I couldn't find it yet so here goes my first post..

I have a 2004 PT Cruiser Touring edition, 2.0L non-turbo, 5 sp. manual.

After a couple of months the reversing-light / back-up light started showing issues. That is: it stopped working, sometimes. Problem has gotten worse and worse, and while I've been checking possible causes, I have not found a solution yet.

- I've replaced the bulb with an LED one. Also tried with a normal bulb. Both give same result.
- I've checked grounds under the hood, cleaned them up aswell.
- I've replaced the back-up light switch.
- I've checked fuses. All fuses are good and checked for oxidated fuses aswell and cleaned up if needed.
- I've checked and replaced the rubber shifting bushes. 2 of these (at the gearbox side) are replaced with PU bushes.

None of this has solved the issue. My theory at this point:

- OR I have missed a ground;
- OR the (slave) clutch cyllinder doesn't do a good job anymore and the clutch isn't operated good enough anymore, causing the switch not being operated (enough) to switch the light (it shifts okay into gears, but it's not like a knife through butter)
- OR my transmission and or clutch are getting bad.

Also: When I shift my car in reverse, normally you hear a warning sound. That also stopped working. And I need to add: It didn't just die, at first when I shift into reverse and wobble the gearshifter a bit, it would light up. But that doesn't work anymore.


Since it feels like looking for a needle in a haystack and the car needs to pass inspection, does anyone have any suggestions to my problem? Am I missing something? Or is there another cause that I'm missing?

Additional: There are no codes in the system and the car is doing pretty fine, just this issue keeps sticking.

Thanks all in advance, even if the answere can be found on this forum already but I just didn't find it.
Would hate it if my PT wouldn't pass anymore on such an issue..

Peter

 

Suggest posting on 'allpar.com' There is a group pf PT enthusiasts that should be be able to assist.

 

do you have a wire diagram if so what what gives the brake up light bulb its power and what it passes threw.

 

Thanks for your reply, I will check on AllPar.

I have a Heynes manual and there I found a wire diagram of the backuplamp. Today I have been testing and checking, have been busy before.

Steps I took:

• check the fuse again (Fuse 6)
• checked the bulb and tested both bulbs in the rear foglight (European car) and both bulbs are good.
• I patched in a new wire from both wires (violet-black and black) to bypass any possibly broken connections between the backup-light switch and the backup-light.
• Patched that same wire in to the switch wire on the transmission and added the ground to ground in the engine bay
• tested for power on the white wire going to the backup-switch, seems that doesn't get power, but I cannot yet trace where the white wire goes to other then the fuseblock in the car.

Been at it the whole day in the freezing cold, but it just needs to get fixed so I keep going.
Anybody any suggestions?

I saw on allpar that connector C2 on the instrument cluster has a 'backup-lamp output' wire (Pin 8).
When I put it in reverse, the gong sound doesn't sound, could it be a connection problem there?

Pin 8 has same wire-color as backup-switch output and backup lamp-input/signal (violet-black)

Thanks for the help and sorry for the late reply.