I was stopped by a Howard Co Sheriff (in Carroll Co) today. I was told my brake lights aren't working.

OUCH! After he told me (no warning or inspection ticket) I felt very vulnerable.

Fuse is okay, bulbs are fine ... I am thinking it is the switch on the brake pedal?

I just did the brakes, front and rear yesterday. Coincidence? or did I not have brake lights prior?

Any hints?

Regards
Migue
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Happy Motoring! 93' 244

Three possibilities. Dirty/corroded/blown fuse, bad bulb warning relay, bad switch at the pedal.

Fuse is okay
Is that based on solely on visual inspection? I recently noticed my center brake light was not lighting. As soon as I could I checked the outboard lights and they were gone too. I did what everybody says to do. I rolled the fuse. Everything came back to normal.
Same thing happened with the windows even more recently. Same cure.
It's those damn pot metal fuses
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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

I rolled the fuse. took it out, switched it with the power locks fuse ... no change.

I'm chasing the switch ....
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Happy Motoring! 93' 244

Lamp Failure: Bulb Out Relay.
General. The bulb-out relay senses differential current flows to paired lamps to detect a bulb failure. If it senses a bulb failure, it illuminates the instrument panel warning lamp. However, if the relay itself fails, then the brake lighting circuit (among others) will fail completely and the cruise control will also cease operating.


Brake Light Failure:
[Query] The brake lights on this car don't work. The fuse is okay, there is power at the brake pedal switch and the switch works. I get no continuity, power at the white junction block leading to the rear harness. Could it be the bulb failure relay itself or is there a little rats nest in there somewhere. [Response: John Sargent] The brake light failure in our 87 745T was caused by the bulb failure relay. You may be able to re-solder, or you can replace it. The bulb failure relay is in the front left corner of the relay plate, and is red and round. [Self-Diagnosis from Guy Jett] It was the bulb out relay. The counterperson at the local Volvo dealer said "Oh yeah, they go out all the time." Note on diagnostics. It was helpful to disconnect other bulbs and see that the bulb out relay still was not working. I think I will keep a bad bulb or two in the future for such testing. [Jason Kneier] I opened the bulb failure relay up and traced the path the brake light circuits took. I saw two suspect solder joints, both of them 'bridging pins' that connected between the three boards, and so I resoldered them and put the relay back in - Success!
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Happy Motoring! 93' 244 and 2002 S60

Just as an added FYI: I had this &%#*! relay fail in my '91 740 and take out the low beam headlamps. High beams worked fine. I chased and swapped out everything before I finally searched through here for clues. (This was foolish, I should have "stopped" here first!) Swapped the relay and the headlights came back to life. An awful design by the engineers IMO.

On a 93, simple. If it is the fuse or switch, you'll have to manually release the shift lever to get it out of park. If not, it is the bulb warning relay.

I have been working on getting my brakelights to work for a couple weeks now. I found a burnt paper circut board where the wires clip on. I exchanged that for a new one today. Still no brake lights. I just bought a 6-12 volt light tester an hour ago. I have never actually used one before. I clipped the ground to the door hinge and touched each wire that hooks to the brake pedal switch. I also touched the fuses with no light coming on. I've got to be using it wrong or something. Anyone want to give me an idea of what I'm doing wrong.

Oh ya, I pulled one of the wires off the pedal switch earlier today and touched it to the other wire and it blew the fuse. Is that the way to by pass the switch?

I hope to have a 240 the rest of my life and figure now or never on learning how to fix it after 5 years of owning now my second.

I opened mine up to look for bad solder joints. Not sure what to look for exactly. There is one joint that doesn't have the "santa hat" sticking up from the solder. How can one really tell?

"I opened the bulb failure relay up and traced the path the brake light circuits took. I saw two suspect solder joints, both of them 'bridging pins' that connected between the three boards, and so I resoldered them and put the relay back in - Success! "

How do you know the brake light path or which pins are for the brakelights?

My bulb out light on the instrument panel was working when other bulbs went out. I'm guessing the relay can still work for other lights while not working for the brakelights.

It can be very tough to see a bad solder joint, especially when these boards are stacked on each other. If you have a solder iron, use a bit of solder and reheat the long pins that connect the two boards. That's where they usually fail.

Yes, The Failure sensor can work for all other functions accept the Brake lights. That's how mine failed.

Wiring of my '89...I hope the colors are the same

Look at the black harness that plugs to the Sensor. You will see "54L, 54R and 54"
The 54 should have a blue/red wire going to it. If you step on the brake pedal, you should have 12V at that wire.

The 12 volts for the brakes goes into the Sensor at 54 and does it's thing in the sensor and comes out on 54R and 54L ( yellow and yellow/gray wires).

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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

I re-soldered the ones that looked bad. Ones on top that had a sunk middle. Still no brake lights. I finally jumped the brake pedal switch and the lights came on! SO the relay should have been fine to begin with. I now have a new soldering iron. I realize the brake pedal switch has a nut on the other side that has to either come off or stay in place while the switch screws off. Which one is it? I've been trying both and have had little luck getting a good hold on the nut.

Thanks for all the help, I'm sure the wiring to the relay will help others in the future.

I never had to remove a Brake switch. I've always buzzed them out in place and they always check out good. Can't help with your removal question.

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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me