23 replies to this topic

[rodrigo]

My 240 has had this constant issue where the card tail light circuit card is always burning out on the passenger side. I've tried using the card it came with (from FCP) and an OEM card and they both burned out after a few weeks.

What can I do to resolve this other than hardwire the tail lights??

[Three Fat Tigers]

Hard to say as such a short life is not a common issue.  Without all the details I can only speculate that maybe the contacts on the sockets are damaged and allowing the issues to perpetuate.  
Might switch to LED lamps where the draw will be significantly less, and so much less of a load on the contacts.  Personally I wouldn't hesitate to hard wire the sockets and so permanently eliminate the issue.

[rodrigo]

Well then I guess I have my answer for the Hard wiring.

LED's......someone's told me to do that.

Well then I guess I have my answer for the Hard wiring.

LED's......someone's told me to do that.

[rodrigo]

Hey, TFT...will the LED tail light bulbs throw off the bulb out sensor?

Im thinking of replacing just the constant tail bulbs.

[Three Fat Tigers]

If both left and right side use the same lamp, the sensor should function normally.

The sensor has a coil of wire formed around a central reed switch, each circuit (left and right) have their own coil wrapped in opposite directions. When the load from both circuits are equal, the magnetic fields that are generated in the coils effectively cancel each other out and the reed switch that controls the dash idiot light remains neutral; only when there is an load imbalance does the magnetic field trip the reed switch.

[rodrigo]

Thank you Mr. TFT.
I'm thinking of restoring the green flexible circuit board and installing the LED's to substitute the bulbs on the tail lamps, I will be 4 bulbs total: 2 single filament (constant on) and 2 dual filament (constant on and brake).

Should I just jump in and just hardwire the tails..????

[Three Fat Tigers]

If you are going to do the LED lamps, I'd start with that, make sure the board contacts and those on the sockets are clean and in good order, maybe treat them with some CRC QD electronic cleaner, or even better: Deoxit D5S-6 contact cleaner. If the problem comes back (or you stick to normal lamps) I wouldn't hesitate to hard wire the sockets.

[ARD - Lucky]

Volvo actually makes a bulb integrity sensor delete plug.. You can find the part number in Vadis.

[rodrigo]

Thanks for the info guys.

Im going to start searching for the led's...but i have more questions as this is all new to me.


What intensity would be adequate?

These are 1057 dual filaments right?

White color would be ok yes?

[rodrigo]

So i orderd some 1157 18cell LED's with 360 lighting angle in red. Not the most intense but close.

West marine did not have what i was looking for but them seem to have a decent selection.

Got them from superbrightleds.com or something like that. A new tail light circuit board is waiting to be installed.

I hope this works

[esundell90]

 ARD - Lucky, on 29 October 2011 - 01:30 AM, said:

Volvo actually makes a bulb integrity sensor delete plug.. You can find the part number in Vadis.

Oh? Thanks for the tip, I might have to get a few.

[rodrigo]

Got the bulbs in last night.
Pics will come.

[rodrigo]

Does anyone know if the dual filament bulb holders are specific to the left or right?

[rodrigo]

there are a few things one can do:
1. Hardwire the tail lights which eliminates the green circuit card. I opted to keep it original and have not had the time to spend hardwiring.

2. Install LED light bulbs and new cards. THe LED's will not emit as much heat and may not melt the cards.

3. Check all the ground connections are clean. Grounds can touch but a more qualified electrician may have something else to say.

4. Make sure the bulbs are in the correct way. When i got my car the previous owner had the index bayonette bulbs in place of the regular bayonette bulbs. The result: new bulb carriers.

[michaela]

Ok. I figured out what the problem was with mine. I bought an after market circuit board. the one on the right does not fit well with the socket on the lower right hand side light. So one of the prongs was not touching circuit, and it burned up. I had to adjust the socket juuuust so, so that all 3 prongs were touching gold circuit. The only way to do this was to only secure it on half way. The left side is designed just fine, the right side is dumb. Tail lights work now, yay. Thanks!

[rodrigo]

well..i tlooks like I'm still going to end up hardwiring mine.

a bit of work, but positive results.

[phunktified]

anyone have the schematics for the 240 taillight wiring ?? going to have to hardwire a few of these for a friend of mine ..

[rodrigo]

If my last attempt at repairing them doe snot work I will do the hard-wiring, but I also spent some time looking at the circuit board and tracing stuff out. It should be easy to see on the circuit board if you still have it on there.

http://www.k-jet.org...ng-tail-lights/

[James A Sousa]

I don't know about 240s but the bulb holders in 740s are definately different. They are different colors - green and white I thing.

When I had my first tail light issue with a 740 sedan - I swapped the bulbs to see if it was just a bad bulb - in short order i noticed that something was melting.

I did not find the problem until I removed both tail lights and took them apart and saw how the bulbs made contact on each side.