Fitting a reverse light switch

I’m trying to figure out how to replace the reverse light switch on a 56-reg Shogun Sport 2.5 TD. I can see where the switch is located, but how do you remove it? There’s almost no space between it and the car floor and there is a solid vacuum line on top of it, plus the vacuum line bracket is in the way and it almost appears to be recessed. Do you know if a special tool is required?

Matthew Fliege

As far as I am aware, there is no special tool for the job. Here’s the method I use to replace it. As you have seen, the switch is located on the offside of the gearbox. The vacuum line that runs alongside is secured in two places on the gearbox – the front fixing is through the bellhousing top bolt and the back fixing is on a bracket just behind the reversing light switch. Loosening off the back bracket is simple enough, but accessing the bellhousing top bolt is difficult without dropping the gearbox slightly. This requires the gearbox to be supported and the crossmember lowered. The top bolt does not need to be removed totally, just loosened off enough to allow the bracket to move sufficiently. Rubber hoses connect the vacuum pipe at either end, so once the metal pipe has been loosened, it can be put aside to access the reversing light switch. As the box has also been dropped slightly, access to the switch is easier.

This may seem like a lot of work to replace a switch, but sometimes the long way round is the quickest. This way it is also easier to start the thread on the new switch, avoiding the possibility of cross-threading.