I believe it to be the reverse switch relay but for the love of the rotary gods I cannot find the damn thing. I've spent 2 hours searching the electrical part Online FSM but I still couldn't find it. Please help.. I'm tired of parking on hills and pushing my car out of parking spots.

Thanks in advance.

 

1) A relay isn't likely to cause a fuse to blow.
A bad relay usually just sticks so its contacts cause the circuit to be always open or closed.

2) There are no reverse relays so you can quit looking for it

There is a N/O switch on the transmission and that is used to detect when the car is put into reverse.
Unfortunately, the wiring for this runs ontop of the transmission and connects to two wire harnesses (forget if its the white or the black harnesses).
Have you had the transmission removed before? Maybe a wire got pitched.

Might want to check for shorts around the backup lights.
In the truck area there is a large wire harness under the driver's side carpet (back side of the wheel well) that is for the tail lights.
You can ohm out the wires between the main harness and the backup lights for any shorts.

 

Thanks I'll take a look at the harness in the trunk. Would I be able to look at the wires on top of the transmission if I were to remove the shifter surround?

 

Look at them, yes.
Reach them, no.

BTW... here is a pic of the main harness for the tail lights:

 

Yeah I found that almost right away and traced the Red and black wires all the way to the reverse lights and everything looked normal. I still haven't looked down my shifter surround at the top of the transmission though.

 

Pull the light bulbs out of the housings and see if it blows a fuse when in reverse before you start pulling the transmission wires. I've had a bulb develop a short inside the base before.

 

Did you ohm out each wire for opens?
Just because a wire looks OK doesn't mean it is.

 

Good idea.

 

Will try.

ohm?

 

I unplugged the whole tail light harness and it still blew so can I rule out there is no short in my harness?

 

Yes... take a volt meter, set it to ohms, and check continuity from one end of the wire to the other.
If the wire is good, you'll have a reading (in ohms).
If the wire is bad/broken/open, you will not receive a consistent reading.

So that eliminates everything from that harness to the tail lights.

 

Bump I still haven't fixed this problem. I found two sets of wires plugging into the side of my tranny. set of two whites and set of two blacks. Are they neutral and reverse? If so which is reverse?

 

Correct... one is the neutral switch and the other is reverse.
Almost positive its:
White connectors = Neutral switch
Black connectors = Reverse switch

 

Do you have any after market items installed in the car?

Some installations run the wiring under the console where the shifter is located.

Some items that could be wired there and the wires are being pinched:

Gages
Ipod
Stereo Amp
etc...

 

Either the Reverse switch is shorted internally or the positive wire for the Reverse switch is shorted to ground. Check the Positive wire for a short to ground with the multimeter on ohms setting.

 

I have no aftermarket interior things installed except seats and steering wheel. and they were all installed after the problem. the problem first occured at sevenstock when reversing into my parking spot. everyone thought I stalled hahaha.

I'm going to disconnect the black connections and see if the car still shuts off when thrown in reverse.

 

this same problem started for me 2 days ago. i appreciate that there's good info here to get me pointed in the right direction. i'll report back once i fix it (...or get it fixed )

 

If you don't mind having no reverse lights the easiest solution is to just unplug the two black connectors on the side (driver side) of the transmission. First time my problem occurred was at sevenstock and I just fixed it last week because I was so lazy lol. Drove around without reverse for a good 6 months.

 

wait, so you fixed it?

what was the problem, i can't follow your last few posts..

 

my solution was just remove the reverse switch clips from the transmission. So no reverse lights but I can reverse without the car popping the fuse.

 

So there's a short along that harness... fix!

 

too lazy. lol

 

can i get to this from inside the car (by removing shift **** and center console) or does it need to accessed from underneath?

 

Under the car unfortunately. I will snaps pictures tmmr since my car is still on jacks right now.

 

Here's a pic of the reverse switch connectors