1995 E34 reverse lights not working

[L Jester]

I've done a lot of searching and can't find what im looking for
So this is what i did

Hi guys I recently bought a 1995 automatic 525i E34 planning to daily it. I've done all the maintenance on it. When it came to the last thing to fix, I was a little stumped. Both of the reverse lights don't work. I replaced both bulbs, same problem. I took the inner taillight out and connect it to power, it lights up. I went ahead to check the fuse, no problem. Last thing I did was jumping the wire from the neutral safety switch, basically skipping the whole switch, the reverse lights started working. I took the neutral safety switch apart to clean the contacts and to my surprise, it doesn't work still. I started to mess with the switch. I can make the switch do 3 things. I can make the reverse light go on all the time, only in park, or not on at all. I know most people at this point will just tell me to get a new switch, but I bought the car for $550 CAD, I've spent around 400 more to get it running well. If i can get the switch working without a new part, that would be great.

I would love some advises. A picture how the neutral switch circuit is supposed to look would be great! Mine has a slight burnt spot around the P spot.

Thank you for reading !

[chislern]

I had some wires break on the wire loom that runs along the left trunk lid hinge. Open it up and take a close look at the bundle of wires. Over time the wires break from opening and closing the trunk lid. Just a thought. Good luck! Cheers, George

[fo3]

I had some wires break on the wire loom that runs along the left trunk lid hinge. Open it up and take a close look at the bundle of wires. Over time the wires break from opening and closing the trunk lid. Just a thought. Good luck! Cheers, George

I would suggest the same thing as I've read about the wiring break in the boot as well, but the OP says they can get it light up by playing with the auto trans switch.

I had a little problem with mine in drive, the dash wouldn't light up with "d" - every other position worked, ie 'p', 'n', 'r' 4,3,2. Sometimes wiggling it made 'd' come on so it was no big deal until one day it went into limp mode because of it and my wiggling the shifter. I had to drive all the way home in 3rd gear.
Anyway, I took my switch out and sprayed it with contact cleaner a couple of times and haven't had a problem since. E: It was absolutely filthy as you'd expect an open switch in that position in such an old car to be.

EE:If 'r' comes up on the dash display as normal, and all the other gears show up correctly etc the problem might not even be the gear selector switch I'm talking about (and I assume your'e talking about when you say neutral safety switch)
In that case it could still be an intermittent break or short in the boot wiring loom as mentioned.
They are the two options because I checked a wiring diagram and power to the reverse lights definitely comes from that switch (auto range switch), not somewhere else like the trans etc.

[shogun]

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2234976-Back-Up-Light-Failure-SOLVED&highlight=reverse+light