Okay, I finally found the switch. I was looking in my Chilton’s manual under wiring and switches and steering columns and shift selectors then finally looked under transmission, bingo. The switch is mounted right on the transmission. Good news, it’s easy to diagnose. Put it up on some ramps, block the wheels so it won’t roll and so there is no pressure on the Park band and of course set the emergency brake. The switch bolts right to the tranny and the shift cable hooks to it. Simply pry the shift cable off with a flat head screw driver, turn on the key, and have someone watch your brake lights while you move the shift lever. When I put the lever in Reverse, nothing, if I put just a little more pressure on it, but not enough to move it into Neutral, the lights come one. If I go to Neutral or past then back to Reverse they come on but each time I moved it just from Park to Reverse nothing. Soooo, seems pretty obvious the problem is with the switch. Now the bad news, at least for me. The picture in the Chilton’s manual shows the transmission and the switch on the side and these easy instructions on how to remove it. They forget to mention there’s a DRIVE SHAFT in the way. I’m sure it’s not a biggie for people who do this a lot but for me it looks like it’s going to be a major PITA working around it. Oh well, at least I know where the issue is. Good thing for me, where I installed the auxiliary back up lights and have an indicator light on the dash I can tell if the reverse lights are on or not. If the indicator light doesn’t come on I can wiggle the shift until it does.
