Estate reversing lights not working - linked to towbar?

[Clark]

My reverse lights aren't working on the estate. It's not a bulb or fuse issue. My mechanic has said it's either an issue linked to having a tow-bar (which I never use) or a switch on the gearbox.

I'm considering having the towbar taken off as I'll never use it and it may fix the fault.

Is it easy to remove the towbar myself?

Any tips/advice?

[DaveNP]

I have removed the towbar from an 850 before (I intended to put it on my V70 but never did). To remove mine for reuse I had to remove the rear bumper to get to the nuts inside the chassis rails. The problem I had was with the bolts holding the bumper into its brackets as the threaded part, which is at the tip of the long bolt, had corroded solid and is totally inaccessible without doing damage to either the bumper skin or brackets. There are different makes of towbar out there which may have different ways of fixing.

Some options that occur to me -
If you lift the boot floor you should be able to find where the towbar wiring has been joined in and check the power there and fix or undo it if the towbar electrics are the problem. If you do remove the actual towbar you will still need to sort the electrical connections so it seems to be sensible to start here.
I'd guess that the towbar electric socket has a switch in it to turn off the reversing light when you put a plug in it so you don't illuminate the trailer when you reverse, you could have a check for that. And check all of the wiring while you're there.
If you do want to remove the towbar, as I recall mine came off before removing the bumper but then the fixings inside the chassis rails would be rattling around loose, you could put the bolts back with a suitable washer to hold them in place.

Personally I'd be more suspicious of the gearbox switch.

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

Personally I'd be more suspicious of the gearbox switch.

Seconded - check the PNP switch, a quick one is to cycle through all the gears back and forth several times while keeping an eye on the reversing lights (mirror?) and see if you get any life out of them. Lots of movement on the gearlever is sometimes enough to clean up the contacts sufficiently for it to work, although it may not last long and need replacing. Worth a try - it's quick and free.

[volvo again]

I think towbar & electrics are now part of the MOT, so if fitted must work, not sure if it applies to cars of our age though. Maybe worth a check.