I just bought a 1989 240 DL sedan for my daughter to take off to college. It has 128k miles on it and is in immaculate condition, with good documentation of regular maintenance. That's the good part.

Luckily, the bad part isn't very bad. My wife and I used the car tonight (since our daughter is out of town) and got pulled over by a motor cop on the way home. (My first sight of flashing red lighs in my rear view mirror since 1983. Woo hoo!) It turns out our brake lights aren't working. I know I checked them when I bought the car last week, so I was a little annoyed that they should have stopped working in 5 days. The CHP officer was a nice guy merely concerned with our safety.

When I got the car into our driveway I tried many different combinations and discovered the following:

1. The upper brake light in the rear window ALWAYS works when the brake pedal is pressed.

2. The tail brake lights work when the pedal is pressed ONLY if the headlights are OFF. ( I bought the car during the day, and did not press the brake pedal with the lights on) Even with the lights off, the brake lights don't seem real bright.

So, basically, having the lights on causes the brake lights not to increase in brightness when the pedal is pressed.

Does anyone have any experience with these symptoms? Perhaps it's just a fuse? I'm new to owning Volvos and will dig into the problem in the morning.

Thanks a bunch,

Philip Wilson

Santa Barbara, CA