Neutral Switch on 01 996

[G8RDuc]

Ok the wiring diagram in the haynes is right, which is VERY wrong. Here's the situation. The neutral switch is an open/close ground switch. It's grounded to the engine via contact and the wire goes to the light harness (green/yellow) to the bulb. The other side of the bulb has the black ground which is a common ground with some other parts (ie - Temp Gauge Ground and Fuel Pump Ground). So how in the world does a bulb light up with 2 grounds?!?! I'm baffled.....

[Old Fart]

I'm not really familiar with the 996 but here goes my tuppence.

Do you have the two wire neutral switch or the newer style one wire. IIRC the two wire ran a separate hot through the switch as opposed to case grounding as per the one wire. I could be wrong here.

Another thing to look is if you have one of the aftermarket sidestand bypass harness installed. These have a diode in the circuit within the main connector which essentially only carries the current of the neutral bulb yet is needed with both switches in the circuit. The old I'll pass juice this way but not the other way routine.

[G8RDuc]

I have the later style. I will definitely look into the kickstand bypass. This is what I have discovered, though:

Green/Yellow coming from the neutral switch is the ground....but the other wire coming out of the bulb is black ground shared with several other dash lights....so why two grounds?! Wiring diagram shows blue wire providing the power, but I see no such thing.

Originally Posted by Old Fart

I'm not really familiar with the 996 but here goes my tuppence.

Do you have the two wire neutral switch or the newer style one wire. IIRC the two wire ran a separate hot through the switch as opposed to case grounding as per the one wire. I could be wrong here.

Another thing to look is if you have one of the aftermarket sidestand bypass harness installed. These have a diode in the circuit within the main connector which essentially only carries the current of the neutral bulb yet is needed with both switches in the circuit. The old I'll pass juice this way but not the other way routine.

[demontech]

im seing its shared by one other bulb but in any case it is fairly standard to "power" everything and switch the ground(especially with comp controlled switching). so the one to the bulb is power and the one going to the nuetral switch is the ground, did you use a meter to check for power

[G8RDuc]

Originally Posted by demontech

im seing its shared by one other bulb but in any case it is fairly standard to "power" everything and switch the ground(especially with comp controlled switching). so the one to the bulb is power and the one going to the nuetral switch is the ground, did you use a meter to check for power

Yeah, something funky is going on, because both wires going to the bulb are grounds....I know how I'll fix it, just wondering how in the hell the neutral light was working before...

[duckracer]

Volt ohm meter and check the contacts in the bulb socket. Thats all I got. I sold my 996 or I would check mine for comparison.

[G8RDuc]

Originally Posted by duckracer

Volt ohm meter and check the contacts in the bulb socket. Thats all I got. I sold my 996 or I would check mine for comparison.

Appreciate the thought, duck. I went ahead and swapped the blue wire (wiring diagram shows this as the neutral light positive wire) that was in the battery light bulb (which we don't use after 99) with the black ground wire that was in the neutral light. Voila...the way it is supposed to be. Now the question has to be asked, how in the hell did this work before???