Check out this hazard lights fix
A component level fix for the failure prone hazard / turn signal relay in the early S/V series cars. Fix the switch yourself for under $2.00.
98v70GLT »
This is on a V70 GLT 1998, I am not sure what years they used the same type of flasher unit but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is many. I wonder if this complicated electronic unit is part of the alarm system?
The problem was that the flashers would work for a short time after getting back in the car and than stop blinking. The lights would come on so I used it with a driver operated sequencing as to have an indication of turning anyway for my dear (close) followers. That got old quick and therefor the attempt to fix this, which worked!
Radio Shack will sell you the part for $ 1.19 which beats to have to replace the unit I would say.
4.7µF 50V 20% Axial-Lead Non-Polarized Elect. Capacitor
Model: 272-998 | Catalog #: 272-998
The flasher unit is located behind the hazard light push button. Remove this by removing the radio or the ashtray. Gently push out the unit, for some reason the plastic that hold the clips to hold it in place broke on mine, and I was gentle to begin with. I had to use some wood wedges on one side to tighten it up to have it stay in place. I guess you can’t have it all but it works fine.
Taking it apart
You need to remove the hazard push button from the unit, gently pry behind this button on the short side, you will see what I mean, you need to pry on both short sides to undo the catch that it has.
Than the next step is to remove the housing, again prying gently, the housing is made of quite thin plastic, and slide this off the unit.
Surprise, IC etc. etc. fancy stuff. But you will see three capacitors, two small ones and one larger one.
The ‘big’ one was the problem in my case. I replaced this with the same values as the old one only the new one is bigger but it did fit. See picture.
Put it all back together
The push button part of the unit slides on to the little switch from top to bottom it does not push onto it! Again you will see as you get it apart.
I don’t know if the other two capacitors can give you a problem as well, if the big one didn’t fix it you might try to replace the other ones, two different values, 2.2 µF 50V and 3.3 µF 50V if my eye sight was good enough.
Good luck and I hope it works as well for you as it did for me. Let us know if it worked for you or if you had to replace the other capacitors.
Turn signal, hazard lights fix
Last Updated on February 23, 2026
3 Comments
I’m having the same issue on my 96′ 850 the number 13 fuse blows when the hazard switch is reinstalled, causing high beams, 4 way flashers and turn signals to fail.
I replaced the switch with various ones from junkyard, chased down ground wires, cleaned stop, turn and tail bulb sockets, disconnected the battery yadda yadda, still blows fuse within 5 minutes ..
With the switch unplugged the high beams work fine, so there must be a hot wire grounding out or switch failure, the indicator on the column seems to work proper – I’ve not taken it out yet but thought I’d reach out, is there something that’s “normal” for 850’s that cause this?
I bought it with the issue, appears to have had previous damage/repairs to inner sheet metal, searched for broken or pinched wires…
Hi everyone, I have just installed LED indicator lights (turn signal lights) on my 1998 Volvo S90, as expected they flashed too fast (hyperflash) so I started to look around the electrical system to see if I could slow them down to a normal rate. I found that by taking the Hazard switch apart and doing some checks I found that if you look at the microcontroller from the top (with the relays furthest from you) you can see that the 3rd pin from the left (pin row next to the relays) is marked IC, this pin controls how fast the lights flash. On the left of the microcontroller there is 2 capacitors, if you change the capicitor nearest the relays to a 4.7 pico farad the lights flash at a normal rate, this works for the Hazard lights as well. This may work for all Volvo’s that use this switch.
Richard.
Thanks – this was very helpful. I pulled out the hazard switch on my 1999 V70 and disconnected the harness. Couldn’t see anything that I could do to fix it so I just reattached the switch and … voila. Turn signals and hazards are on again.