Greetings all.

I have a 78 F150 460/C6 4x4. There were no back-up lights on it so I decided to put them on. There is a black/red wire in the rear which Haynes tells me is for back-up lights, but it has no power when I'm in reverse.

There is a group of wires under the hood coming from the tranny that has the white/pink wire (power to the switch), the black/red one (for the b/u lights), and two others, but it's not connected. There is no harness under the hood to plug it into either. There's a harness for the rear lights with the black/red b/u lights wire in it, but it goes into the firewall.

There's supposed to be a white/pink wire from the fuse box that goes to the tranny to power the switch. That wire isn't there.

Now I ran a wire from the fuse box to the tranny switch and connected the black/red wire from the switch to the black/red wire to the b/u lights. It works perfectly.

My question is: How SHOULD this be connected? Did some of these trucks have a b/u switch somewhere other than on the tranny itself? Is there one in the column (I have the tilt/cruise column if that matters)?

I just need to know where to look for the white/pink wire.

Thanks in advance (and sorry for the length).

Kevin K.

 

460/C6 in 4x4 > That's not original.

The problem is the combination neutral safety/back-up switch beside the transmission.

The transmission gets its power from the Grey connector located in the center firewall.
It should have 4 wires coming out of it.


You are going to have either remove the switch and clean it up to (possibly) work or My Suggestion.
Run a special switch to your new back-up lights.

I'll post a photo in a little while.

The tilt makes no difference.

 

I do not know if you are aware of this, but your truck drivetrain is not original. Ford never put a 460 into a 4x4 in the 70's. So I would assume your truck may have had a manual tranny originally. This would explain the missing wiring harness for the automatic tranny. The way you have it hooked up sounds good to me, and if you want the original harness, I would do some more research and maybe look in the junkyards to see how the factory ran the wires originally.

 

Thanks guys! Yes, I know the 460 never came in a 4x4 in this era. The original engine was a 351 according to my vin. I don't know if the steering column was original, but it has the shifter on the column so I'm assuming the original tranny was an auto.

Dennis,

The switch does work. I just have no harness to plug it in to. I have it wired up so the tranny switch activates the b/u lights, it's just that the power to the switch isn't coming from where it should be. According to my diagram, there's supposed to be a white/pink wire that feeds power to the switch. That wire is not under the hood anywhere.

Assuming nothing on my truck is original, is it possible that there was a back up switch somewhere in the steering column? Maybe the wire I'm looking for is in the cab somewhere?

Just a thought.

Thanks again!

Kevin K.

 

In 78 they changed the place of the switch to beside the transmissio from the side of the steering column.
The 78 column should have a plastic cowl where it connects to the dash.

The Harness on a 78 is attached to the firewall in the directly middle.

I go take a photo of it for you.