The passenger side front turn signal on my '93 wagon isn't flashing. The passenger side run lamp and head lamp both work. The passenger side rear signal is flashing quickly indicating front bulb failure, but front bulb replacement did not fix the issue. Driver's side is 100% functional.

I'm concerned that the issue may be related to the wiring inside the fixture or the fixture itself but it is not clear how to access this part of the car, as its entirely enclosed by steel and the headlamp fixture. Do I need to fully remove the headlamp fixture to get in there? Are there other troubleshooting steps I should take before doing that? Thanks!

I just had the same problem on 93 - 240. The signal bulb had a lot of play and some corrosion. I bent the metal contact point in the socket outwards a bit to increase tension to eliminate the bulb shifting in the socket - cleaned the corrosion off and applied dielectric grease on the bulb contacts and shaft - and has been working for 2 weeks.

Hi,

If you are going to pull the whole front lamp off the car you need to remove the headlight assembly next to it.
The lamp fixture is held in place by only one bolt as the fixture itself has two plastic pins that engage two rubber grommets for added stability.

A pressed out steel pan holds the headlight and this gives you the impression that it's all solid steel.
The headlight itself has four studs, molded into the gray plastic of the headlight.
Do not over tighten these tiny studs and nuts when reassembling as they can break out from the rear of the headlight fixture
They reach through the steel pan and are held by hex nuts only.
Remove four nuts and it will move forward out of the way to reveal a ten millimeter head of the bolt to remove.
Do not turn anything else but those hex nuts as everything concerning the pan is for headlight adjustments. These are longer screws all by themselves.
.
The socket in the turn signal housing base uses a very narrow and often corroded surface to contact the light bulb. All else is plastic in there and is kinda funky IMO.
Actually it's the pins on the bulb make the fit to the outer base and that makes the ground connection.
All has to be really clean on the engagement pins.
The tip of the bulbs used in front lamps have two positive terminals. They have lead soldering.
One is for running lamps and the other one is for flashing.
1156 or 1157 is a single or double filaments. The latter being a brighter one as I don't think the running lamps ever goes off at night.
All this makes it more important to get things aligned correctly and clean.
Do not force these bulbs. Fine the depth it needs to engage those pins as this aligns the terminals.

If the socket doesn't receive some care, every once in awhile, this type of problem develops.
Get things clean inside the socket and use a paste type anti corrosion salve to make the work last longer. Apply this stuff to the connector that hanging inside the engine compartment to Our!

Good luck and be patient, you will fix it!

Phil

Before you condemn the fixture you must at least test it with a test light and also test the connector in the engine compartment. Remove the lens and bulb and then test for power and ground. You could also test for continuity through the new bulb (and the old one for that matter). - Dave

Thanks! The bulbs continuity is good. The connectors inside the bulb socket do not have continuity. I am struggling to figure out how to remove the fixture or check the wiring. There is a gray connector going into the fixture. Removing it disables the run lamp, which is functional. The turn signal lamp in the same fixture won’t flash. Seems like it could be a disconnected or oxidized connection inside the fixture. How can I remove it or access the wiring? It’s blocked off inside the engine compartment just by the steel wall and I don’t see a way to access any hardware to remove it.

I am not familiar with the North American light setup on these old Volvos, but I would imagine that they are not that different from European units and that inside the engine bay things look like this (1992 model, in this case it's the driver's side):



Given the two wires on the grey connector, I'd say that one is for the running light and one for the indicator. Return path is through the black wire fixed onto the bodywork just outside of view.

Here's what I interpret and deduce from you description:
-Since the running light works, that means that the return path is ok, as it will be shared by both bulbs.
-The direction indicator relay works because all other indicators work.
-The stalk on the steering column works as the rear indicator works.

Here's what I would do:
With known good bulbs in the unit, unplug the grey connector and measure continuity on the black half between one pin and bodywork repeating the measurement between the other pin and bodywork making sure both probes have a solid contact to pins and a bare metal part of the body.
If continuity fails on one of them, that's your indicator and the problem lies in the unit. If continuity is OK, however, then the problem lies upstream.

My guess is that the problem will likely be in the unit, so lets focus on that now.
The indicator/running light unit slides and locks onto the headlight housing. So you will have to unplug all connectors to the unit, unscrew the black wire from the bodywork, remove the grille, unscrew the hex nuts from the studs of the headlight housing and lift the assembly away from the front being careful not to snag the connectors on something and have it pull out of your hand and drop glass first on the pavement (been there, done that, cash changed hands the same day).
You can then lift the lock tabs and slide the unit off the headlight housing for easier access.