I've come across a series of outlets which are all original to the house, but here is the rub.
When testing the recepticals the tester says the hot and ground are reversed. When I test with a meter there is 120vac from hot to ground, 120vac neutral to ground and 0vac from hot to neutral. The service panel is wired correctly and all outlets on the circuit are wired correctly. How did the neutral become hot?

The neutral is only hot because you are reading the voltage through a load. The neutral is not live, it is open somewhere. The "hot & ground reversed" is a classic symptom of this.

You need to check out EVERY receptacle on this circuit, working or not. The problem will be in the last working one, or the first dead one. It is impossible to tell which is which though, so you check them all.

I suspect you will find the wires just stuck in the back of the receptacles. This is called backstabbing, or quick-wired. These connections are notorious for failing.
If you find these, remove the wires and loop them around the screws on the sides.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by stanfortyman

The neutral is only hot because you are reading the voltage through a load. The neutral is not live, it is open somewhere. The "hot & ground reversed" is a classic symptom of this.

You need to check out EVERY receptacle on this circuit, working or not. The problem will be in the last working one, or the first dead one. It is impossible to tell which is which though, so you check them all.

I suspect you will find the wires just stuck in the back of the receptacles. This is called backstabbing, or quick-wired. These connections are notorious for failing.
if you find these, remove the wires and loop them around the screws on the sides.

---

I agree!