*sigh* THIS old question (244 brake lights)

Howdy, all.

This forum is great, and I've read thru it for fun for months - but now i'm seeking some guidance (and/or opinions) on the 1 problem I can't seem to fix: These confounded brake lights in my son's 240DL.

I've replaced both tail light assemblies, circuit boards, bulbs, and the relay thing under the dash. ALL the lights work, except the left stop lamp. And occasionally (more often than not - the right stop lamp blows the fuse). I'm pulling what 3 hairs I have left out trying to fix it, and my son's getting tired of being pulled over for no brake lamps.

So my question is this: is there some way I could use the FOG lamps, and wire them direct from the brakelight switch to become brake lights? I don't think he ever uses (nor did I) the rear fog lamp - and other than buying another vehicle at this point, I don't know what to DO with this thing.

Any suggestions appreciated.

B.D.

In for answer cause my passenger side bulb melts the housing (both oem and aftermarket). A redneck at work told me bad connections cause heat so maybe i(and you) should hardwire it? But im taking his word as grain of salt until someone here says otherwise

Canadan said:

... bad connections cause heat ...

Click to expand...

Absolute truth

And heat melts plastic.

And melted plastic causes bad connections.

Does the car have cruise control?

cleanflametrap said:

Absolute truth

And heat melts plastic.

And melted plastic causes bad connections.

Click to expand...

Thanks for verifying johnny for me!

Ursan said:

Does the car have cruise control?

Click to expand...

No - It's a very base model 240 DL. Has A/C but not much else.

BD--

I'm also a Volvo Dad (and granddad) 5x 240 sedans, and there's only one sure way I've been able to manage seeing three good brake lights and 4 good running lights as the kids leave my place at night. Hard wiring.

Wire around the flaky connections created by leaks and moisture. Both where the harness plug goes on the circuit board tongue and where the lamp sockets make contact with the flexible circuit film. Replacing the film will help for a month, replacing the lamp housings may help a little longer, but even the Genuine Volvo (Valeo) replacement lamps arrive with cracks and leaks. The aftermarket versions have their own horror stories, but I stopped wasting money on those 12 years ago, so don't know if they've gotten better or worse.

Here's a glimpse into how I did it, but your approach will be dictated by your skills and resources. No solution is "off the shelf." The fog light position is an option, sure.

I'm in the process of hard wiring all of the lights on the back of my 92 Volvo 240.

Using Art's pictures, I have already gutted and hard wired the bulb failure sensor.

Yesterday, I hard wired the bulb sockets on the left rear, and plan on doing the right side today.

Replacing the bulbs after this modification will be easy.

I'm really liking the progress so far.

I will post a couple of pictures when I finish.

Let the water out

In addition to the wiring mods, I just remembered one more thing I've had to do to make these sedan lights reliable. Easy to forget, because once you've done it the problems are scarce, so I was surprised to find our own sedan turned on the bulb failure warning light yesterday after a downpour the night before. I couldn't believe I had not already drilled them.

cleanflametrap said:

In addition to the wiring mods, I just remembered one more thing I've had to do to make these sedan lights reliable. Easy to forget, because once you've done it the problems are scarce, so I was surprised to find our own sedan turned on the bulb failure warning light yesterday after a downpour the night before. I couldn't believe I had not already drilled them.

Click to expand...

I've done that very thing more than a few times.

The best way to diagnose this is to pull out the voltmeter and see if you are getting voltage in the right places (like at the tail light connector). I hard wired both brake lights directly and bypassed that crappy connector. Soldered the wires directly to the bulb sockets and fully bypassed two connections that can be faulty. But first you need to know if you are actually getting power back there. A test light will also work.

^^^ +1
This needed saying.

I direct wired my rear lights by soldering pigtail wires directly to the tabs on the bulb holders.

I also eliminated the electrical connector where the factory wires attached to the flexible film.
Did this by cutting off the connector and soldering the new pigtail wires directly to the feed wires from the car.
I enclosed every solder joint in heat shrink tubing.

If you do this, be sure that you leave plenty of slack on the new wiring pigtails that you solder onto the bulb holders. You will need this in order to be able to replace a light bulb.

I also drilled a 1/8" hole in every bulb holder to give me a place to attach a nylon zip tie.
I used the zip ties to act as strain reliefs on the solder joints.

The pictures are pretty much explanatory.

I got it all done, and it worked out really well.

I also removed the "guts" from the bulb warning relay and soldered jumpers in.
This completely eliminates the bulb warning sensor.
Thanks again Art.







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When I bought this car 3 weeks ago, none of the lights worked in the rear.

THANKS ALL for the suggestions and the tips on this - UPDATE (just FYI) - just out of curiosity, I decided to install lower-wattage LED 1157 bulbs in the tail/brake lights - and Lo! and behold ~ the brake lights decided to BOTH work for the 1st time in 2 years! So for now: luckily, I don't have to hard-wire these buggers! I've kept the how-to's tho, for future reference! Thanks again. Happy motoring! ~ Mick.