Ok I finally got all of my other lights working. All I need is to get the reverse lights working.
1st off the bulbs are good.
The engine and tranny arn't originall to the car. Its a 69 442 vert but the engine is a 70's 455 with E heads and a TH400 trans. The guy I bought it from also installed a Hurst shifter.
I am wondering is there any differance in wiring that maybe he just didn't do or could it just be a bad neutral safety switch.
Any help on where to start would be great.

 

I had one back-up light that was not working when I got my 71. The ground was bad. Where it attached to the bumper was rusty along with the screw. Sanded ground and replaced screw. Works fine now.

Larry

 

We need more info. Was the car originally a column shift or a floor shift? What kind of Hurst shifter was installed? It sounds like whoever installed that aftermarket shifter didn't properly connect the backup light switch. I'm willing to bet that your car will start in DRIVE also...

 

Not sure if it was originally a column shift. The car starts in any gear. I found the old neutral safety switch on the column but all the wires are cut and the 2 purple wires are spiced together. Not sure on the hurst but I believe it is a dual gate.

 

Well, there's your problem.

The two purple wires are the wires to the neutral safety switch. One goes to the ignition switch, the other to the starter solenoid.

Unless you have absolute faith in your own ability NEVER to make a mistake, AND you will NEVER let another human being drive this car, you need to do what you have to to get the neutral safety switch working again. If you leave it as is, there is a good chance that sooner or later someone will give the gas a good pump, hold the pedal down, give the starter a crank, and find themselves through a wall. If anyone gets hurt, you do NOT want to be served with that lawsuit.

As for the back-up light switch, either find where it is on the new shifter assembly, or, if that's not possible, just put a toggle switch between the other two wires (like I did on my Chevelle 30 years ago), so you can turn them on when you want to (and maybe an indicator light, so you remember to turn them off ).

- Eric

 

So basically, whoever installed the aftermarket shifter did a half-@$$ed job...

It's difficult for the reverse lights to work when they are not hooked up to a functioning switch. In the case of your 69, if the switch is on the column, it was originally a column shift car (in 69 the console shift cars still used a switch in the console). You need to find and install an appropriate neutral safety/backup light switch for the shifter you have, then run the wires from under the dash to the new switch. Purple wires go to the NSS, green to the backup lights.

 

Thanks guys thats what I figured. I am gonna pull the shifted and see if there is a switch there that he never hooked up and go from there.

So the one on the column I can pull off and trash right?

 

Yep

 

Ok so did a little mire research and I am pretty sure the guy was making 1 car out of 2. The engine and tranny are from a 70 model and I was searching the net and the console seems to be from a 70 442 as well because it is the long console with the dual hate hurst shifted. I'll post a pic later but if this is the case where would I get a neutral safety switch for this thing.

 

If there is no switch on the shifter then it's probably out of a 1971-72 car. Since the feds required automakers to lock the shifter with the key, GM used a backdrive linkage from the trans to the steering column. Since the linkage was already there, Olds simply used the same switch on the column for both column shift and floor shift cars. This started with the 1971 cars. The 1970 dual gate did use a switch on the shifter but these are hard to find and expensive when you do find one. Your most cost effective option is to adapt an aftermarket unit.