Unofficialbmw.com

[k1hb]

I'm afraid to be a contrarian here but the fact that fiddling with cables lights the backup bulbs is not necessarily diagnostic.

mesupposes you have a floppy manual shifter. you don't say so, but i suspect your shifter boot is ripped on the left....is it? then most likely your cables connecting TO the reverse switch are chewed up.

common problem, easy fix

wrote it up few years ago:

http://www.bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=view&ID=00163&Section=02

regards

Fred

[Soviet Sniper]

Hey, I never said that jumping the cable proved the switch to be bad. Could be chewed cables to the switch as well, I assume that has been checked while the test was done.
_________________

1988 325is | 199k+ | First car (now s52 powered)
1992 Saab c900 | 200k+ | Winter vehicle
1982 Virago xv920j | 25k+ |