2 "reverse" lights out, all other bulbs work fine.

So I failed inspection today because of what the mechanic called the "reverse lights". On my 2007 they're the 2nd ones down. Thing is, both sides are out, and after looking at the bulbs closely they don't look burned out. The lights above and below work fine. I don't know how the wiring works with these lights, but I doubt these two bulbs could be on a separate fuse. I know mouse damage could be a possibility, there's been rodent action in the front end over the years for sure. But where in the car will I find that part of the wire that's common to both bulbs, before the split? I guess anywhere between the trunk and engine?! And then if I do find a chewed wire, it probably won't be something I can DIY. What say you experts?

 

Well gee I suppose I could try just replacing the bulbs. I like to make things complicated, see. I'm assuming I can spot a burned out bulb from a good bulb, which of course is not necessarily true haha! One thing I thought of: I have the intermittent dashboard-cluster outage; I have the part and am planning to replace it, um, sometime. I know that when the dash lights go out, other things happen like the trunk cannot be opened for example. I wonder if, since my dash lights are out now, that it's making the tail lights also go out. Natually, when the dash lights go on in a couple of days, I'll see if the lights are working again...

 

That's mighty interesting, that diagram! My money's on combo meter being a fix!

 

It's confirmed, when the dash lights came back on, the back up lights did too. Got me a sticker!