fiesta reversing light switch - gearbox oil

fiesta reversing light switch - gearbox oil

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vanordinaire

Original Poster:

3,701 posts

163 months

Monday 11th January 2016
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Just sharing this in case anyone else has a similar problem.
My daughters 2006 Fiesta V suddenly started making a lot of gearbox noise, luckily she had the sense to stop and give me a call. I recovered the car and found it had dumped all the gearbox oil. On investigation, what had happened was that the
reversing light switch had broken internally and the gubbins had blown out under pressure followed quickly by all the gearbox oil. I've bought a new switch (less than a tenner from the local factors) and before fitting it, refilled the gearbox using the hole for the switch, it's at exactly the same level as the proper filler hole and a lot easier to access.
I've searched the internet and haven't heard of this happening to anyone else but it might give someone a heads up.If your reversing light stops working (as my daughter's had a few weeks ago), best to replace this switch ASAP in case the same thing happens to yours.
While searching for the fault, I noticed a lot of posts seeking information on replacing the gearbox oil. It seems that Ford (in their wisdom) have decided that as the gearbox oil has an expected life of 150000 miles, they haven't included a drain plug or made the refill access easy. My experience has shown it's a lot easier via the reverse light switch hole.

trickywoo

11,842 posts

231 months

Tuesday 12th January 2016
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Good tip thanks.

What dreadful design by Ford - not for the first or last time!