Hi team. I am 4 weeks into owning my first ST170. Its been left on a field and then parked on a driveway for the last 5 years. So I have had to replace a lot of stuff to get it ready for a WOF (NZ), an MOT for you guys.. So all discs and pads have been replaced, Rear hatch struts replaced, all the panels that the glue has dried up have been all reglued and reinstalled. Interior had to be all completely scrubbed and then rescrubbed.
So then I tackled the reversing lights or the lack of.. I tried the old, put it in reverse and the rear wiper failed to move and no lights so then I looked under the bonnet for the reverse light switch. I found the disconnected triangled plug, then tried to find the bloody switch! OMG!! after 5 hours of searching the internet I found it. I removed the front wheel and put a jack under the gearbox, then removed Battery, airbox and holder and undone the gearbox mount. I reached down the back of the gearbox and found the smashed switch. I really deep 22mm socket got it out and I installed the new one. BUT, the reversing lights still don't work, nor does the rear wiper when I put the car in reverse. Can anyone tell me what I can check next.. All the fuses are ok...

Thanks in advance. Mike

 

My money will be on a faulty relay, the st170s etc were well known for these with front wipers stopping half way up the screen and rears not working at all as the rear shares same earth as light

 

Thanks for the reply...The back wiper works via the steering wheel controls, I thought when you select reverse the reversing lights come on and the rear wiper does a sweep? Is that right? I might have that wrong....

 

rear wiper will only sweep if you have front wipers turned on otherwise it wont do anything, so if wiper is working as normal could be simply a bad bulb holder also common to go wrong

 

Thanks team.. I finally got to the end of my problem. The car had a clutch which shattered the bellhousing which damaged the reverse light switch on the gearbox. Also, the last owner had pulled apart the rear reversing light bulb holder etc and did not put it back together properly, while trying to find the issue. Once I replaced the reversing light switch the light still did not go. So I went to the rear of the car and started there, as per Steve's recommendation. Found the bulb holder to be broken and swapped it over with the fog light holder and it all went!! Wahoo!!! Many Thanks Steve for the tip!!