89 245 with brake light issues

Post by **Volvo_240_Atari_2600** » 24 Jul 2009, 16:59

Florida
248k
Non turbo

Intermittent brake light problems as of yesterday.

For a while I knew of a bad contact from the left brake light from time to time that requires pulling the bulb and bending the contacts a little for a tight fit... Always did the trick.

Now I have no brake lights on either left or right and just the third, however... Since I removed the third brake light cover recently, I can see if that one works in the rear view mirror.

Cop pulls me over yesterday as I did not know that both brake lights were out, but he informed me that I had NO brake lights at all and that as he was pulling me over, my brake lights would flicker.

Luckily he let me go with a warning.

I checked the fuses... they are all fine (broke the fuse door recently so I could not ID exactly which one so I went through all of them)

Could this be my red brake light relay?
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Eric

Post by **billofdurham** » 25 Jul 2009, 12:36

This is from the owner's manual:
1 Cigarette lighter, El. operated side mirrors, Radio, Tailgate wiper/washer, Cruise control (governor) 8 A
2 Windshield wiper/washer, Horn 16A
3 Heater blower 25A
4 Fuel feed pump (tank) 8A
5 Spare
6 Main fuel pump 16A
7 Brake lights, Cruise control (switch) 8A
8 Interior light. Glove box light, Trunk light, Engine compartment light, Central locking, El. radio antenna, clock 8A
9 Hazard warning flashers, shift indicator light 8A
10 Power windows 16A
11 4th gear (automatic transmission), heated rear window 16A
12 Back-up lights, Window lifts (relay), Air conditioning (with blower control), Rear window demist (switch) 8A
13 Turn signals, seat belt reminder lights, heated front seats, fuel injection system 8A
14 Rear fog lights 8A
15 Parking lights (left side), License plate light 8A
16 Parking lights (right side), Light on instruments and controls 8A
Blade type fuse, serving LH-Jetronic fuel injection system. Located on the left wheel housing by the ignition coil. 25A
Refer to the fuse location chart at fuse box for fuses specific to your car.

Could this be my red brake light relay?

Do you mean the bulb failure sensor? This is a possibility. To test each brake light you can by-pass the bulb failure sensor by running a wire from the battery + to each light in turn and see if the lights work.

Bill.

Post by **Volvo_240_Atari_2600** » 16 Aug 2009, 09:39

Bill,

Hope all is well.
Thank you once again for your input.

Had been very busy with work the last couple of weeks so I could not get into the problem as I took my wife's v70 while she has been on vacation.

Anyway... I did not get to do your wire test as I started checking each bulb after replacing the red "bulb failure" relay with one from a salvage car. (No change)

In pulling all three bulbs, I noticed that the two lower bulbs (left and right) the plastic had been badly melted. I take it this is common with the inexpensive replacement tail light assemblies? Inferior plastic I gather.

Make a long story short, I got the brake lights working (temporarily) as I had to clean the contacts as well as carefully cut out melted plastic that was in the way of the metal contacts making contact.

That night at home I had success. Next morning I decide to take my car to work again and one brake light only.... Had to use the wife's car again.

I since ordered a new pair of tail light assemblies and do to current money situation; I went with the cheaper replacements. Just for now at least. I hope to have them installed later today and hopefully that is a problem solved. I also have my wife's v70 giving me problems now after a tune up with Bosch platinum plugs and I am just trying to make sense of her car's new issues after a tune up done last night.

I will let you know the outcome of the brake lights.
Thank you once again.

Eric

Post by **billofdurham** » 16 Aug 2009, 11:08

I have never used Bosch Platinum plugs but our good friend MadeInJapan strongly advises against their use in the 850 and 70 models.

Do a search for Bosch Platinum with him as the author. He has several posts.

Bill.

Post by **Volvo_240_Atari_2600** » 16 Aug 2009, 18:20

Bill,

So here is where I am with the brake lights.
I feel like the gremlins are coming out of the woodworks now. Starting to think some one I know has been putting the evil eye on me.

OK…
I installed the pair of new (aftermarket) tail light assemblies.
Interesting… Left brake light was the only one to work… Not even the third brake light.

Remember I said that the other night I was able to play with the contacts and I had ALL three brake lights responding. Car sat overnight and the next morning, I only had the one side working.

So today I play with everything and I then decided to swap sockets… I pulled left and installed in right and vice versa.
Guess what… One socket did not respond. I pulled in a spare socket and still nothing (same bulb) Turns out the bulb was bad but intact and clear like it was brand new. Why is that?

So now my brake lights work… (only left and right) and the 3rd brake light does nave a brand new bulb but nothing.

I did the tailgate harness two years ago so I am getting power to the tailgate hatch as my wiper works, the license plate lights work.

Now…
As I was playing around, on the passenger’s side (US right side) I was playing with the red and yellow wires, I accidentally (few times) touched the long metal strip on the back of the assembly and pulled sparks…

Now…
I have parking lights in the parking light position on the headlamp switch but I have no headlights or parking lights when I attempt to turn on the headlights.

I checked the fuses and everything is fine.
High beam works when I pull on the stalk but no headlights.
Did I fry something?

Is there some sort of a head light relay that I may have fried and now need a replacement?

I just dumped allot of money into my wife’s v70 this week and the pair of tail light assemblies and I am trying to do this right on a show string budget.

Does what I described to you sound reasonable to attack?
Your input is very appreciated.

Thank you
Eric

Post by **billofdurham** » 17 Aug 2009, 12:15

There is a headlight relay, location in the attached:

240 relays.pdf: (1.18 MiB) Downloaded 214 times

On the 240 headlight circuit there is also a step relay which is in the engine compartment, towards the front on the left side. Sometimes the step relay is ok, but the connections can come loose especially if you have been working near it and have caught the wires. If you can't find it follow the wires from the headlights. This relay is more often the cause of trouble with headlights than the relay inside the car.

I was playing with the red and yellow wires

What were these connected to, when you weren't trying to attach them to the metal strip?

The wiring diagram shows lots of red and yellow wires.

Bill.

Post by **Volvo_240_Atari_2600** » 06 Sep 2009, 08:37

billofdurham wrote:
What were these connected to, when you weren't trying to attach them to the metal strip? The wiring diagram shows lots of red and yellow wires.

Bill.

Bill,

Sorry for the delay in getting you an update... To answer your question/comment, I meant the following.

On the 240 wago, the tail light assembly being vertical, on the back/inside there is a vertical metal strip that maked electrical contacts for all four bulbs on that assembly. The bottom being the running and brake lamp, I was trying to reverse red and yellow as an experiment back then and in doing so, I believe I touched that long metal strip with one of the wires and caused spark...

Make a long story short... I had no headlights after that as I stated. (that day only) Next day I had a DEAD battery. Think I may have accidentally left the dome light on overnight. Battery was completely drained and took about 15-20 minutes to pick up a charge from the boosting car.

Brake lights worked... Next day (day the battery was dead) I went to a salvage yard and I got a bunch of used relays to play with.

Would you believe I never had a chance to replace a single relay and the headlights worked???

Now... I have working headlamps and brake lights (left and right work great (brand new tail light assemblies) but my third brake light works when it wants to work.

I have not had the time to buy another replacement bulb to troubleshoot... I did replace the third brakelight assembly from a newer 245 (larger than mine) and no luck there... Mine just works internittently.

Any suggestions?
Any chance if I kep it that way, would it short out my other two (new) brake lights?

Since they are the same aftermarkets on ebay, I figure I may get at least a year out of them before the plastic starts to melt again and would hate to speed that up since I just spemt about $80.00 on that new pair.

Thanks
Eric