[350chevypower]

I purchased an S10 with a tranny and v8 swap (700R4) (350TBI). When i put it into reverse i noticed i had no reverse lights. So i took the lights out and realized there were no bulbs. So i put bulbs in and it was working. Well i was driving earlier today and noticed on a side of a building my reverse lights were on even tho i was in drive. Now on my colum shift control, drive is actually neutral, neutral is one click up, then reverse is one click up from that.
Park is park. Now could the reverse lights be stayin on beacause the linkage isnt correct? please help?

[fast68]

howdy there


well there is a reverse light switch on the column down low under the dash on the auto trans models.
is this truck a factory auto trans truck, or has it been converted to auto with an auto trans column ?
RPO sticker on the glovebox door shows auto trans from factory ? if so it will show MX1 and MD8 codes


there are one or two screws that hold it to the column and you loosen them up and adjust the position of the switch

the indicator needle that shows you what range you are in is a whole other adjustment, you simply adjust the cable that runs from the indicator needle to the column shift housing in front of the dash there

sounds like someone has swapped the column in the truck or something else and never set these things correctly

you kinda need to have a working knowledge on how these work in order to set them. they can be tricky. and in these trucks specifically i have found that often the columns are out of adjustment, more commonly than in other vehicle makes and models, for some unknown reason,. just ask my 91 s-10 pickup outside here, for example.

i kind of wonder if maybe your reverse switch isnt jumpered together for some reason(previous column swap related)

will the engine crank over in any range other than park and neutral ?

youre gonna have to do some exploratory investigation of your column switches to see whats going on.

hope you have a digicam to show yours

i may be able to take a couple pics of mine or something


good luck!

[350chevypower]

thanx man ill check right on that

[350chevypower]

that would explain why there was no bulbs in that back lol...Buddy did a scrappy job of setting things up correctly

[350chevypower]

I just checked and it has the MD8 but MX0 code not MX1.... but from the looks of everything it does look like it was factory automatic.....and its actually a 89 GMC S15- body model but i thought from 85-91 s-10 and s-15 models r basically the same?

[fast68]

yeah the truck recieved auto trans from factory then.
mxo or mx1 means there are provisions for auto trans.'

md8 is the model of trans., 700r4

hope all goes well under the dash there hehehe

good luck!

[350chevypower]

all right ill check that switch out and see what happens thnx alot

[350chevypower]

do i have to take to colum apart or is the switch right at the bottom underneath?

[350chevypower]

and no truck doesnt turn over unless its in park or neutral

[fast68]

ok sounds like the safety neutral switch is set right then.

reverse switch will need the adjustment done or the jumper removed, etc.

a nd the cable for the selector needle and plate will need adjusted

to do that though you will need to remove the cover at the upper "base" of the column. it is held in place by some phillips head screws. it has the small lower heater ducting vent connected to it usually.
so you can get to the range slector plate needle cable.
and also access the round part of the column that rotates when you shift the trans. this is where the cable connects to the rotating part of the lower column housing, it will be either retained by a phillipos head screw, or simply clipped on tightly.


just loosen or unclip it and reposition it on the lower rotating housing of the column so that the cable makes the needle accurate on the pointer plate in each trans range.



you should be able to the switches under there without removing anything.,

other than removing the large flat black below-dash hush panel- that fits around the column/pedals under there.

sometimes the floor courtesy lamp is attached to it under there. but not always.


most likely this cover hush panel already missing .

otherwise no need to remove anything else to access the column andpedal arm-mounted switches under there.

a flashlight or shop light will help considerably

[350chevypower]

lol no its actually on there lol stroke of luck eh?! its actually fairly clean interior to!!! allrighty ill take that cover off and have a look thnx alot eh? Ill let u know what i discover!

[fast68]

oh ok well thatmeans its probably unmolested and probably not jumpered either

the switch may be bad is all.

or somehow slipped out of position

it looks like it is the white colored switch with the two small wires to it, blue and green colored ones.


good luck

[350chevypower]

thnx buddy ill let u know how she goes!!