Back Up lights come on in drive 2003 PT

[bbnjb3]

I have a 2003 PT Cruiser and the back up lights are coming on when I am in drive. I can make them go off by wiggling the shifter (I have an automatic) but they still seem to come on when at a stop light. Anyone have suggestions on how I can fix this?

Thank you

[damilleniumboy]

Did you spill anything on the shifter? it's sounds like it's making a bad contact and sticking after you go through reverse gear.

[bbnjb3]

I don't believe so.

[CREWZIN]

I did a search but all I found is an owner with a manual trans PT with the same problem.....

We have a 2002 TE PT with 27.5k miles and manual transmission. The other day, during a long run at a steady 60-65mph, my wife, who was in the car behind me, reported that my backup lights lit up on a couple of occasions, staying on for a few minutes at a time. I had no lights on, was not using the wipers, was steady in 5th gear, rarely used the turn signals or brakes, and I don't drive with my hand on the shifter. She could deduce no observable correlation (lane changes, braking, etc) with these occurrences. No codes were detected with either self-test (except the FL005, EE05, BL01 which you, rightly I think, correlate with internal software data). No new wiring or tampering on my part to account for it. Any ideas would be appreciated? - David, from Delaware.

The 2.4L with manual transmission goes through a back-up lamp switch that ties 12V power to the lamps. There is no other way for the lamps to get power. It must be a defective switch, or defective switch activation lever inside the transmission. Reference pages 8W-51-2 & 3 of the 2002 SM.

Follow up from owner - Yes, it was the switch. Good call. You are a lot better than I am at making sense out of those wiring diagrams.