Reversing lights allways on

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I recently bought a fabia 1,4MPI comfort. I dont remeber checking the reversing lights on it as i bought it but a couple of days ago someone stopped me at a gas station and told me the reversing lights were on.

 

I had just changed the engine oil, as it seemed cloudy as if there was paper fibre in it. To get rid of that we filtered and thinned (minearal oil) the oil and ran it true the engine block a couple of times. Also obviusly the oil filtre and oil was changed in the end. But during all this rinse and general fun with oil, my helper spilled some old engine oil down the engineroom.

 

As an emergency fix i pulled out the reversing light fuse (number 37 i think it was, its marked as something engine related on the card by the fusebox) so it never comes on, but that wont do forever.

 

As i lifted the car to inspect the plug for the reversing sensor i found a whole lot of oil dripping down the gearbox and plug (its right over the plastic shielding by the left front wheel, fittet to a bolt like sensor that goes into the gearbox).

I rinsed off the oil as best i could more or less expecting the oil to be the cause of the short circuit, then tried to pull out the plug.

 

I may not be the best at car electronics but im a metalworker by trade so i do know the meaning of "stuck" and this was it. First i fiddled alot with the plastic locking mechanisms on the plug and eventually cut the entire outer plug away with a stanley knife. Still definately stuck and i do mean stuck like soldered or epoxy glued.

Well i pretty much knew the plug was a loss, so i took a pair of pliers and grabbed the bit sticking out, then tapped the whole thing out with a hammer.

 

The remains that came out was one bare connector and the other one may still be in there. I know how the plugs are supposed to look cause i pulled a complete one off on the front of the engine to have a look. Plug was possibly burned by electrical short circuit, but when i took it off it had a good deal of oil in it wich i kinda doubt it would have if it was burned recently.

 

Final fix will be to buy a new plug and sensor, But add a rubber cover of some sort to the assembly, to avoid salt and other nasty things flowing down the engine and into the plug

Also i suspect ill need new gearbox oil, as the old will leak out when i remove the sensor.