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Headlight wiring help 2 questions

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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default
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Year and Model: 1998 v70 awd
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Headlight wiring help 2 questions

Post by default »

Hey all, so my lights suck. I’m going to do the projector retrofit and I’ve got all the parts I need, including a spare set of headlights so I can just swap from one to the other. On top of that I’ve already unhooked the headlight extensions the recall installed

My issue is this: the internal wiring that goes from the plug on the housing to the light bulbs themselves are shot. They’re the typical cracked/missing the insulation and the wires themselves are pretty tarnished and meh.

I’ve looked in both junkyards and online for a replacement set to no avail, except this:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... ss-9438738

My headlights don’t have the plug for the city lights and I’m wondering if I’ll get a bulb fail light if I use these? Does anyone have any suggestions on a replacement?


Which brings us to issue 2: My drl has my lights on 24/7 and I don’t want that with HIDs. I’ve already got the switch turned off but I was wondering what wiring it would take to take the drl function away from the headlight and hook it to either halo or some other led type running light.


So long story short I’d like to see if those harnesses will work without causing a bulb fault and if it would, could I swap the drl wiring to a different set of lights?


Thanks all.

yanga001
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Post by yanga001 »

I had the same issue in a 98 v70 base. I disabled the DRL's by adjusting the selector on the headlight switch (there is a small part you can screw in to change the mode of operation. For mine i adjusted it to a point where it allowed me to select no lights/parking lights (orange indicators only)/headlights + foglights. As far as bulb faults, i dont think you will have any issues. These systems seem to check based on loading so as long as the draw is high enough you should be fine (i may be wrong).

As far as hooking up custom led's i believe your best bet would be splicing in from the side indicators or putting some sort of check switch to signal when the side indicators are on to turn on the led running lights.

Long story short, i believe that the lights take power directly from the relays located further up so its not a simple splice into the main headlight housings to get your led running functionality.
1998 S70 N/A Auto (Parts car)(planned to be harvested)
1998 V70 N/A Auto New full restoration project (Water pump thrown at 404K Km)
1998 V70 N/A Auto (Workhorse) (Tree to driver B pillar :( )
1999 S70 T5 Auto(Project) (planned to be fixed)
2000 S70 SE M Learning platform (planned to be driven one day)
2008 S60 2.5T Auto (Sold)
2012 Honda Pilot AWD Touring (Daily)

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Post by default »

Ya I’ve got my drl switch set to off. My hope was that I could turn it back on and use whatever wiring was powering the “drl” option to run the leds. Basically take the drl function from the headlights as it currently is and give it to another light source

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erikv11
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Post by erikv11 »

You need to look at a wiring diagram that includes the switch but yanga001 is almost certainly right, that the drl function controls the main circuit i.e. from the main headlight relay. You can't dedicate it to something else.
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

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