Morning Sages!

I hope this question finds you all well.

My car is a 1989, 245, with 391K (approximate) miles on it.

I've been ignoring for some time now this light and so today I attempted to remedy the situation, much to no avail.

What I currently experience:

With the engine running:
1. Lights off, no bulb failure light in dash even when I depress the brake pedal.
2. Parking lights on, bulb failure light on, depress brake pedal, light off and then back on when the brake pedal is released.
3. all lights on, bulb failure light on, depress brake pedal, light off, and then back on when the brake pedal is released.

All turn signal lights work (front & back), all running lights work (front & back), all headlights work (low and high), all fog lights work, all license plate lights work, and reverse lights.

What I done/checked to day:
1. I've Ohmed out the bulb failure sensor, and it checks out, as does my spare.
2. I've removed all the bulbs that are tied to the sensor, except the headlights, and have thoroughly cleaned. Both front turn signals and parking lights were heavily oxidized, but are now clean of any oxidation.
3. I replaced the 3rd brake light; though working, it was loose.

What I've noticed:
1. Depressing the brake pedal when all the lights are on makes the bulb failure light go out, and then back on when released.
2. Sometimes, but not all the times, when I turn the left turn signal on, the bulb failure sensor goes out, and blinks in time with the turn signal, but not all the time.
3. If I turn the hazards on, and then off, sometimes my turn signals no longer work and I get this horrible sound behind the dash of a relay not working properly.

So where do I go from here short of a) removing the bulb and ignoring the problem, or b) rewiring the bulb failure sensor so as to bypass the internal reed switches.

I'd rather not go down this path as something is wrong and I need to fix it before I have a catastrophic failure and then I'm left in the dark and no way to get home.

As always, thanks in advance,

Matt

--
1989 - 245, 1990 - 245, 1991 - 245, and 1993 - 245

Or, if you are good with soldering, you can create a bypass of the bulb failure sensor.

There is some voltage drop / current loss when electrical power passes through the bulb out or bulb failure sensor (at least you do not call it a relay).

I bypassed the bulb failure sensor using instruction by Dave Barton and Art Benstein.

Well, I found the Dave Barton info after the fact. Find it here:

240 uses the red case sensor.

https://www.240turbo.com/volvo240mods.html#bulbfailsens1

I have mismatched parking lights between the left and right so the bulb out sensor indicator dash light is on. The sensor reacts to a current flow imbalance for left and right for left and right low beam, left and right parking light side circuits, and left and right brake lights.

Hope that halps!
--
Beh.

your obviously missing a piece of black tape ,,,,to cover it,,IE car talk,or get another 1.

Hi Matt,

Merry Christmas, neighbor. The annoyance is just that and not a sign of impending lighting failure.

The turn signal / hazard issue is most likely separate and fixed by either spinning fuses or replacing the turn signal relay by your right knee.

The bulb failure warning circuit only monitors rear running lights, brake lights, and low-beam headlights. It has no involvement with front running lamps or directional lamps except where your tail lamp assembly shares the ground wire from the long ground strip to the chassis.

That ground could be the issue, but you cleaned it. More likely you have a problem right in the plastic bulb holder with the contacts that ground the shell of the dual-filament bulb base. You owe yourself the confidence a new set of brake lamp bulbs will give you.

Two questions you can answer without venturing out in the cold: (1) is the tail lamp assembly aftermarket, and (2) do you have trailer lighting wiring? The aftermarket assemblies use inferior metal plating on both the housing contact strips and the bulb holders. Trailer lighting means more chances for connections gone poor.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Just found 2 lumps on my car battery.
Had them tested.
One came back positive.
Hope it's not terminal

Dang it! Hit the enter button way too fast.

Pulled both brake light holders out and measured resistance. Passenger side one was way off, but still worked. Replaced it with a spare one I had laying around.

Now light off, but comes on when I hit the brakes. I pull the bulbs once more and check again.

Now drivers side is off from passenger side. Before I headed out to the local autozone, I checked the glove box. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. There sat a spare one. I measured it and it was very close to the passenger side bulb that I just installed.

I put it in, and now the light is off, and the problem is solved. Moving on to the next Gremlin.

Later,

Matt
--
1989 - 245, 1990 - 245, 1991 - 245, and 1993 - 245

Art,

Merry Christmas to you as well neighbor!

The answer to both of your questions is unfortunately, yes. Dangit!

The turn signal relay has already been resolved, just needed to pull the relay to break the 32 years of built up resistance on the contacts and the shove it back on .

As for the front turn signals and running lights, I could have sworn that they were part of that circuit, but alas I am wrong after once again looking at the circuit diagram. At least they are all corrosion free now!

Since the weather is at least some what pleasant yet today, I'll spend more time looking at those bulb holders once more, and the trailer hitch wiring.

Thank you neighbor, greatly appreciate it!

Matt
--
1989 - 245, 1990 - 245, 1991 - 245, and 1993 - 245

Bulbs mounted in plastic have ground wires, bulbs that have a metallic path to ground may get their ground through their mechanical connections to the body, etc.

Make up a jumper with clips of the size needed (ie large one to clip on bulb socket if possible) and ADD a ground to each bulb to see if that changes things.

This would get around a broken ground wire where you cannot see it. If this works, just add a permanent extra ground.

On our '88 745 GLE we had a headlight out - my daughter changed the headlight to no avail. I checked for voltage and found 12 volts. I changed the plug to the headlight - still no light.

I stripped the wires back about a foot and found that one wire was full of black gunk and only had one copper strand left! The light was on, but not bright enough to see it.

I went to the pick and pull and obtained a used plug with wires all the way back to the firewall and spliced in to our car.

I would pay more attention to the front of the car as the wiring is exposed to more salt, chemicals, etc. than the rear is.

A wiring diagram does not tell you where the wires run.

Locate and clean all the ground points. Sometime mixed brands and wattage of bulbs turn on the failure light.,

Forgot to state this, I checked all the grounds and cleaned them as well.

What I would really like to see is a really good wiring diagram.

Art, might you have this???

Thanks,

Matt
--
1989 - 245, 1990 - 245, 1991 - 245, and 1993 - 245