Thank you, Dennis:

New parts have been ordered.  Middle Georgia is complete opposite of 
growing up in New jersey with state-run inspection stations (anyone old 
enough to remember the lines?).  No inspection here in Bibb County. 
Anything on the road with a current tag that can get out of its own way 
and not catch fire is street-legal by practice.  A decent vehicle 
inspection system would take so many cars and trucks off the road that 
repair shops would be overwhelmed.

John

On Sun, Jul 31, 2016 at 12:43 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote:

> Both the wiper bar and the contact block are wear items. The contacts 
> in the block get loose in hosing and that wiper on shaft gets pitted 
> and wears or burns away. Both should get changed as a set.
>
> Having working reverse lights is almost as important as brake lights. 
> As bad as most state inspection programs are at least they get folks 
> to get stuff fixed at some point.
>
> When I took my road test for the motor home I had to do a pre trip 
> inspection including fully testing the air brake system and 
> demonstrating I knew how.
>
> Dennis,
> From my phone.
> ________________________________
> From: John Lauterbach<mailto:john@JHL.MGACOXMAIL.COM>
> Sent: ‎7/‎31/‎2016 10:37 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM<mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Subject: Automatric neutral safety / backup lights switch -- '84 
> Vanagon              with sutomatic transmission
>
> My, Son, now 18, has reluctantly concluded that the only way he is 
> going
> to get a GA drivers license is to take the road test in my Vanagon. 
> He
> has heard that the inspectors giving the test do a safety check on the
> vehicle and that all lights including backup lights work must work.  I
> had never bothered to find out why they didn't work when I purchased 
> van
> in 1997.  I had bought the contact that goes on the shift lever, but
> never replaced the bad one.  When it got so worn that van would not
> start, I bypassed the switch.  So, this past Friday night, my Son
> decides to fix the problems.  I gave him the new contact (date on bag
> was 1999) and turned him loose on the van.  He got everything working
> except that van will not start unless you push the shift lever to the
> right.  Contacts on the switch appear to be good.  It appears the 
> switch
> needs to be loosened and pushed to the left and the screws 
> retightened.
> Is this best way (other than buying new switch)?
>
> Thank you,
>
> John