Bulb Failure

[bauurami]

First time poster here.

Bought a volvo xc90 2.5T in the sprin. I've had to do a whole bunch of things to it since, but this one has me stumped.

Last week, I got a Bulb Failure Low Beam message as well as a Bulb Failure Day Running Light message at the same time. I rarely drive at night but discovered a few days later that I have no regular headlights, the brights don't come on, nothing. The yellow lights on the sides of the headlights (running lights, I believe) are on Nol card online check, thought.

I, of course, have the fancier more expensive Bi-Xenon headlights. I had to take the car in today for an exhaust issue, and they told me the bulbs are $175 apiece. I decided to wait and try to figure this out rather than spending $400+ with labor to have them replace the bulbs potentially unnecessarily learning k5.

My question is: If the low beams are both out, as well as the brights, is this likely to be a bulb issue or something else? I have no warning message about the high beam bulbs, but they don't come on. I DO have a warning message about the running lights, but they seem to be fine.

I definitely don't know enough to get under the hood and check connections, wires, ballasts, etc., as I simply wouldn't know what to look for. I don't want to buy replacement bulbs if the issue is likely something else. The shop said they would "start with the bulbs and if that doesn't work they'd dig deeper" but I just don't want to start with something so pricey if that's likely not what's going on. They're a shop that specializes in European cars, and they've helped me a number of times before, so it's not that they're incapable in any way. They just seem to want to start with the simplest solution, it just so happens that the simplest solution is pretty expensive.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!

[ggleavitt]

What year vehicle?

If regular self-leveling Bi-Xenon, bulbs are D2S and you can find them for $30 a pair in the US (DEMEX as example). If Active Bending Light (ABL) Xenon, bulbs are D1S and a pair of Osram 4300K will be a little less than $100 in the US. Replace bulbs in pairs, make it easy on yourself and do it once (bonus-you'll look color-symmetrical from the front).

Both Bi-Xenon and ABL use ballasts, those can go bad. Maybe get a user manual for your correct model and year http://volvo.custhelp.com/app/homeV3 and see about swapping the bulbs between assemblies followed by doing ballast (bottom of headlight assembly, need a Torx 20 or 25 to remove). Do this of course with key out of ignition and see if one of these works. Ballast can be replaced singly.

If you don't feel comfortable in doing this yourself, pay someone to do what I just wrote. If after this you still don't find a resolution, post back on your findings and someone will help further.

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