Can anyone tell me why my reversing light has stopped working? I have replaced the bulb and fuse but to no avail, I know that the switch was a problem with the mk1 but I'm not sure where it is or how to easily test it so I'd be grateful of any advice, thanks

With your Water in the Spare Wheel well issue you need to check that out and look for Moisture and Corrosion on Electric Connection and Earths.

 

Check the Hatch Seal and see if H20 is getting in, or at the Hatch, or at the Light Seals, and if there is dampness in Connectors,

Dry everything out, find wear the water is getting in, and then you might end up getting the Reversing light working.

Thanks for that, I don't think that the reversing light fault is moisture related because I've checked the connections and they're dry, the fault appeared at exactly the same time as the other fault I've just posted about the dashboard illumination, I don't think they're related to each other but I think the car has suddenly got some electrical gremlins, it has just been in the garage for two weeks after a rear end shunt so maybe that is something to do with it, I'll have to do a bit more investigation work. The water ingress is definitely connected to the accident damage as the boot area has always been dry in the past but I'd rather try to solve it myself as the body shop is miles away and I don't want to be without the car again for ages just for the sake of something simple that might have been missed when they re-assembled the back end.

If all the electrical connections are fine, bulb, fuse etc then I'd say it's the sensor on the gearbox that tells it when reverse is selected.

If all the electrical connections are fine, bulb, fuse etc then I'd say it's the sensor on the gearbox that tells it when reverse is selected.

 

could well be actually.

 

ive had that on a Polo. wasnt too much to fix either iirc...

Thanks to everyone who responded, I have found the problem, when the rear light was replaced by the garage they also fitted a new wiring harness with bulb holders attached and it was slightly different to the original one in that the reversing light wire went to a different pin and didn't connect to the feed from the cars wiring.