Lately my 1998 Forester (5-speed) has been a little iffy with the reverse light. Sometimes it comes on when I shift into reverse, sometimes not... but often if I gently whack the shifter a couple times back into the reverse slot, it'll pop on... only to go off again if I hit a bump.

 

Now, the shifter has gone loose on the left side - it won't center after popping it out of first/second gear.

 

I found this thread regarding my second issue:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=57767

 

I think I can probably handle that repair myself. My question is, are these two issues related? In either case, anyone have any idea as to what is causing the reverse light issue, and if I can fix it myself?

 

Thanks.

Welcome to the USMB, sir.

 

The reverse switch is not located on the shifter

mechanism but is a switch screwed into

the rear extension housing of the transaxle.

 

It probably wants replacing, it is item #6

in this FSM reprint.

Hope this helps

Aha.

 

Thanks for the response.

 

Two things: I'm not much of an experienced mechanic. I'm mechanically inclined but have not done much work on my car outside of brake jobs and other such simple tasks. Is this something I could replace easily (i.e. accessible without taking much apart)?

 

Second thing, as an extension of me having done little work on my car, I only have a vague idea of where that would be located . Could you give me more specifics or perhaps a photo? I scoured Google for a bit but came up dry.

It's on the drivers side of the transmission. It's a large hex head, like 19 or 22mm, and it has 2 wires going into it. You unplug the connector that the two wires lead to, use a wrench to unthread the switch from the side of the tranny. Make sure you have the aluminum washer on the new switch before you thread it in. 1/2 hour job at the max if you're clueless. 5 min if you know what you're doing.

 

Oh, and the shifter not centering is because the return spring has dissapeared. If you look at the shifter linkage where it meets the tranny, there will be 2 rods coming down. One has a big bushing on the end, this is the support rod. The metal washer that holds this rod onto the tranny has an ear with a hole in it sticking up.

 

The other rod is the shift rod. It has an ear with a hole sticking down. There should be a spring hooked between these two ears.