244DL 1985 brake light not functioning

[Domenic]

I'm looking for some guidance on how to proceed.

The left brake light on my 1985 224DL is not working. I replaced the bulb, which made no difference. I swapped the socket and bulb from the right side, and found that the bulb and socket worked fine on the right, but still nothing on the left. I replaced the circuit board on the left, but still nothing.

For a while, the front parking light would go on when the brake pedal was depressed, as would the brake light. Now neither goes on when braking. Taillight works fine when headlights are turned on, just the brake light is not functioning.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Domenic, Massachusetts USA

[billofdurham]

Welcome to Matthew's Volvo Site.

As you have changed a known good bulb/socket to the fault side of the car you have either no power to the unit or you have a bad earth (ground) to that unit. As the tail light is working I would tend to think you have no power.

To test the theory you could run a wire from the battery + terminal to the light unit and just touch the rear of the bulb holder to see if the light works.

If it does work then you will need to trace back from the brake light to the bulb malfunction unit to find the cause of the fault.

Bill.