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Hi Guys,
I have a problem with my 88 240's tail lights. First the break lights on the driver side was not working. So I cleaned the flex circuit and reinstalled, the break lights worked, except when the head lights are on, then when you hit the breaks all the lights go out. So, fine, I went out and bought brand new tail assemblies and installed them, now all the lights work except for the passinger side break light, and the back up lights stay on all the time, wheather the head lights are on or not. I looked at every thing I could get to and checked for bad goound, borken wires, loose conections, but found nothing wrong. I'm not an electrician and only know the obvious to look for, so could any of you please give me some hints as to what could be going on?
Thanks
Scottc
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posted by
someone claiming to be tbags
on
Wed Apr 19 07:11 CST 2006 [ RELATED]
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Mine lights up like a Christmas tree when the white bulb holder is not aligned properly. The little tits on the tailight itself are compromised and the bulb socket can travel further than it should, replace your reverse lights and give it a 64th to an 8th of a turn and then avoid pot holes. I think you're on the right track for looking for bad wires. I found a bad strectch going to the liscens plate lights and the actual plate light bulb holder was grounding out with metal to metal contact. The state trooper was kind enough to let me know my lights were out, so after posting bail I fixed her up good, F'n tailights.
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Yah, those 244 tail lights can make you crazy! BTDT
You have -
cleaned the flex circuit
brand new tail assemblies
checked for bad ground, broken wires, loose conections. All OK.
You have done a lot of the right things, but there's more, naturally.
First, check the bulb holders on the lower outer lights. White one on the right side, black on the left. Check also that each has a two-filament bulb inserted correctly.
Second, turn on the park lights and set the key and shifter to have the back up lights be on. Turn on the headlights and the rear fog lights. See what lights are on, or not. On each tail light unit there is a white connector. If there is a light that should be on but isn't, wiggle that connector and see if that makes any difference.
Come back with that, more help is available.
Good Luck,
Bob
:>)
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Thanks for the help BC,
Yes all the bulbs are new and I rechecked them they are all good. Second on the back up lights, in does not mater what you do with the shifter, as soon as you turn the key on the back up lights come on, and stay on. I removed the bulbs so we can still drive the car even though the passinger side brake light does not work. (still need to go to work and pay bills) I need to get this resolved as I got a ticket last week and need to show proof that the problem is corrected, or pay a fine and not be able to drive the car until fixed. Now that this is going on with the 88, I found that the brake lights are not working on my 87 240, this is new as I just replaced the center brake light bulb 2 weeks ago and all was working perfectly. so any ideas you may have for that one will be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Scottc
(86 240 auto, 87 240 auto, 88 240 5 spd, 94 850 auto, 94 940 auto)
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OK. Bulbs are good, and the dual filament ones are in the lower outer lamps. Is the white bulb holder in the right side lower outer lamp?
The next thing to check is the condition of the mini-clamps inside the white color connector. The connector is held to the circuit board by a tooth that you can pull a bit upwards while you pull the connector towards the car front.
Look at the connector and you will see the little mini-clamps. Next look at the bottom side of the place where the connector hooks to the circuit board. Takes a mirror and flashlight. You might see that the places where the mini-clamps make contact are burned and/or pitted. Sometimes this works: Clean the circuit board places with a pencil eraser.
The connector can be opened, the back is hinged. It comes easy when you have the right angle, look for little clips on the end of the connector that hold the lid shut. Use needle-nose pliers and carefully remove ONE mini-clamp. Squeeze the jaws together so that the space between the is reduced, not eliminated. Do this for all of them, being careful to get each one back into the same slot. {Put the connector back on and run the "does it light" test again.
If the circuit board contact areas are just too bad, you might get a tiny bit of heavy duty aluminum foil to fold over the board. If that won't work, look for a replacement circuit board.
Why do you suppose the b/u lights are on all the time? Both sides? just one? Trace the circuit board lanes the feed that lamp, see which mini-claw in the white connector feeds it. Is it in the right slot?
Yah, as I said, those things can me one crazy. High levels of the Volvo DIY hormone will support your persistence.
Good Luck,
Bob
:>)
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Thanks for the info Bob,
with the back up lights both go on and stay on. as far as the circuit board goes they are brand new they came with the tail light assembly I bought, I have not taken apart the white connector that attaches to the circuit board I did'nt know that it comes apart I will try that because the clips that contact the circuit board look dirty I did make an attempt to cleas with some emery cloth but that may not be the cause.
Any clues as to the cause for my 87 240 sudden break lights not working all the other lights work! and as I said they all worked 2 weeks ago when I replaced the center break light (the one in the back window)
Thanks again for all the help I will keep you posted
Scott C
(86 240 auto, 87 240 auto, 88 240 5spd, 94 850 auto, 94 940 auto,)
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posted by
someone claiming to be transit wind
on
Tue Apr 18 15:37 CST 2006 [ RELATED]
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The brake light problem on the 87 could be the brake light switch on the brake pedal. I took the hose out from the air vent to get a good view of mine. Make small holes and use wire or paper clips to hold back together. with maybe some tape after the job is complete. You can jump the line by wiring together the two wires that go onto the the switch. That will let you know if the switch is bad by being able to see if they go on when jumping. Mine went out just a few months back (86).
I also had a paper circuit board with burnt contacts where the wiring harnes is clipped on with the pigtail.
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thanks Transit wind,
I think you may be right, have to wait for daylight to check it out thouth, as I can't see under the dash in the dark even with a flash light. the eyes arn't as good as they used to be, and I'm not as flexable eather.
Scott C
(86 240 auto, 87 240 auto, 88 240 5 spd, 94 850 auto, 94 940 auto)
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I'm going to bypass the whole mess on our '90 244.
I'll remove the flex board.
Then I'll verify that the bulb holders grab onto the black plastic reflector housing nicely with the "board" gone.
I plan to cut off the connector from the end of the wire harness going to the flex circuit board. I'll solder wiring directly to the metal tabs on the proper bulb holders (drill a small hole in each metal tab to pass wire into for good mechanical connection). I'll need to extend the wiring from where I cut off the connector to the back of the bulb holders. And I'll need to install 5 ground wires for each side of the car.
This may be overkill but I'm not interested in babying the rear lights on that car, over the long term. I'd rather build a solid system and be able to forget about it - since we only drive it occasionally, and any/all members of the family might, whenever needed - so I want it to be a "set it and forget it" item.
--
Sven: '89 245, IPD sways, electric rad. fan conversion, e-codes, 28+ mpg - auto tranny. 850 mi/week commute. '89 245 #2 (wifemobile). '90 244 (spare, runs).
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Hmmm, interersting approach. "Set it and forget it", I like that.
My experience has been that the problems mostly occur where the connector hooks into the circuit board. Replacing that with an "ordinary" connector(s) would be my first attack.
On my 1986 and 1988 244s, the left side wires are
Left tail light,
Left brake light,
Back-up light in,
Back-up light out to right side.
Fog light in,
Fog light out to right side. (Car has two rear fogs)
Left turn signal.
Right side is similar. Has different colored wires for lights on the BFWS, and only the "in" wires for the fogs and back-ups.
It would be a half-day job, with all parts on hand, but worth the effort, IMHO.
Good idea.
Regards,
Bob
:>)
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I did the surgery on the right side rear today.
All lights now work reliably - which is an improvement.
Fogs, backup were working intermittently before.
Right brake light was dim. Bad ground contact was found, the likely cause.
Right side "board" had torn months ago and shorted when it tore, creating a burned area with deformed plastic etc. Thus my decision to do some surgery on that side.
Still have the BFW light come on when using the brake. I replaced the rear bulbs in the fall, replaced the center bulb today with a matching one. I think maybe I need to clean up contacts or improve current delivery to the left and/or center bulbs but I'm out of time and patience right now.
I cut off the connector on the right side wire harness and ran wires directly to the appropriate bulb holders. Also a ground wire from each bulb holder, the five ground wires go to a single new ring terminal at the existing ground screw.
I soldered the new wires to each terminal on the right side rear bulb holders. That was a mistake. I ultimately did get good contact. They didn't really want to solder - I think the contacts are either highly chromed, or stainless steel. I did a decent job of wrapping wire around notched parts of the tabs and/or passing it through existing holes. I tried drilling without success. Next time I'd use female spade connectors instead. The tabs do bear on the mount surface when you insert the bulb holders, but spade connectors would not conflict because the pimple bump on the contact is where the pressure is, and slipping on female spade lugs wouldn't interfere with that. Of course you would first get rid of the flex board.
--
Sven: '89 245, IPD sways, electric rad. fan conversion, e-codes, 28+ mpg - auto tranny. 850 mi/week commute. '89 245 #2 (wifemobile). '90 244 (spare, runs).
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Hi Bob,
Just wanted to thank you for all the help found the problem on the 88 240 with new tail light assemblies, it was the new bulb socket! after checking the main connector that connects to the circuit board found nothing wrong, I cleaned and re-installed and problem remained no passinger break light. so I decided to get the multi meter out and check voltage at the bulb socket on the circuit board, had 12v there so the wife said why don't you put the old white bulb socket in and see if it works (surely a brand new assembly could'nt have a bad part!!!) all lights work with old bulb socket in new assembly. again thanks for all the help
ps. the back up lights still come on and stay on I'll have to keep looking on that one.
Scott C
(86 240 auto, 87 240 auto, 88 240 5 spd, 94 850 auto, 94 940 auto)
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I learned a few things working on our '90 244's lights today.
Backup lights "hot" wire is black. It arrives via main harness on left side - that wire goes to the connector on drivers side taillight set. On the connector, the adjacent black wire picks up the current by contacting the same terminal on the flex circuit board. That adjacent wire goes over to the passenger side of the car to run the right backup light.
Did you check is the backup light switch? I can't recall if you wrote that you did or not. If auto tranny, it's in the shifter housing. Pull the 2 scerws at front and slide housing cover over to the side. There are two contacts for park + neutral to allow the starter to work, and one contact for Reverse to activate the backup lights. Switch or wiring in that area could be shorted out. This is a "standard" type switch - hot power comes in, and if the switch is "on" hot power is sent out to the backup lights, where it goes to ground via the bulb. Probably a black wire like the one at the taillights.
Did you make sure that no other lights are on when you see the backup light on? There could be a short circuit from the taillights (if you like to leave them on), shorting into the backup light wire. Of course it shouldn't do that, but bare wires making contact could have that effect.
--
Sven: '89 245, IPD sways, electric rad. fan conversion, e-codes, 28+ mpg - auto tranny. 850 mi/week commute. '89 245 #2 (wifemobile). '90 244 (spare, runs).
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