Any ideas why when I shift from 1st to 2nd on my 348 spider, the reversing light come on. It goes out again once I'm into third. Any suggestions on where to start?
This should take less than a minute to diagnose. Remove the two screws holding the chrome shift gate onto the console, lift up the gate, and look at the reversing light switch, which comes through the front of the shifter housing. The shift lever should press in on the switch ONLY when the lever is in the reverse position. Either the switch has somehow been bent out of position, or a foreign object (or the boot) is pressing on the switch when the lever is in 2nd. You'll see. Edit: It SHOULD look like this when the lever is in 2nd, not contacting the button on the switch. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Check your rubber boot under the shift gate. Mine did the same thing. The boot had tore & was touching the reverse pin. I bought a boot from T Rutlands (problem fixed)
I just want to know how you freakin' **noticed** that your reverse light came on everytime you shifted from 1st into 2nd and off again in 3rd!
Someone shot a video of a group of us driving away from a sports car meeting where you coan see the light coming on and I can hear from the exhaust (decat tubi - v loud) that it only happens in 2nd...... I'd probably never know if it happened otherwise!
Whew! Good answer. I was afraid that you were going to say something such as "I've installed one of those lorrie backup/reverse beepers and I could hear it beep everytime I shifted" or some such!
Took off the shift gate, and the rubber boot seems all chewed up. Is it safe to remove it and run the car without the boot whilst I order a new one?
None of the earlier cars had the boot at the shift lever base, so it won't hurt anything at all to drive without it, unless you drop a pocketful of junk down inside the shift gate. Don't worry about it. Glad your problem turned out to be simple.
Yeah, my car doesn't have the boot. As Milt already said, the only thing you have to worry about is something falling in. But that isn't even a big deal, because it will just fall down into the bottom cable cover. You can alway remove the cover and take out what ever was in there. So you'll be fine.