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random lights 850

posted by  Jasonsals on  Wed Jun 30 02:01 CST 2004
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Hi everyone, I'm new to the site. which is great. like all, I probably have a horror story to tell. but let me say i love my volvo. anyway, i have a 95 850 turbo. At night my dash lights turn out about 5-10 seconds after I'm on the road. They are bright and fine- and my light adjuster works fine and then- poof nothing! my turn signals are fine, but my dash and gear shifter lights all go out. there is not any flickering going on nor do they whimper and fade out. My WONDERFUL dealer INSISTED it was my BULBS. They changed them and of course nothing was fixed. I took it to them again and they said "Sorry we cannot duplicate the problem now" I wrote to Volvo Cars and they refered me back to the dealer! I just have no where to turn. Does annnnyoneee know whats going on? Since my dealer can't fix it I hope maybe someone out there can help. Sorry for my rant. Please help. many thanks








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    random lights 850

    posted by  someone claiming to be David S. on  Wed Jun 30 02:09 CST 2004 [RELATED]

    I am currently having the exact same problem. I just replaced the bulbs and that didn't fix the problem. A few weeks ago we had several posts on this subject. Another writer replaced the "Light Control rely: located under the fuse box, and the dash light dimmer rheostat. That solved his problem and he now has dash lights. I then replaced the light control relay and that did not solve my problem. So the next step for me and possibly you is to replace the light dimmer rheostat. It just pops out forword, no need to go behind the dash to remove it. If that doesn't do it, I am not sure what else to do to fix the problem. I think what is happening is something is causing the light control relay to trip. Then after you turn off the car for awhile, it resets itself. The rheostat may be the cause.








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      random lights 850

      posted by  Jasonsals on  Wed Jun 30 03:23 CST 2004
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      Thanks David, your a great help. I'll keep you posted with my situation. Any suggestions on where to order the part?. thanks so much. j








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        random lights 850

        posted by  someone claiming to be David S. on  Wed Jun 30 03:59 CST 2004 [RELATED]

        The guy who replaced it and got his lights working got the part from a junked car. That is where I got my light control relay from too. So I was going to go back to the junkyard and get a new rheostat off the same car. Otherwise a new one is probably available from the dealer, but I am reluctant to get it from them because it probably is a $100 or so part, and it might not solve the problem, and is not returnable. The junkyard will probably charge $20.








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          random lights 850

          posted by  shoagie57 on  Wed Jun 30 13:19 CST 2004
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          I may have a similar problem. On my 96 850 wagon, I keep loosing my dash lights. The fuse is blown. I replace the fuse and the lights only work for a short while ( 20 minutes) then the fuse blows again. Any suggestions?








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            random lights 850

            posted by  someone claiming to be Stormin Norman on  Thu Jul 1 02:39 CST 2004 [RELATED]

            If the rheostat is bad, would setting it to full on bypass the resistor function? Or just pull the switch out and jump the wires together?








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              random lights 850

              posted by  someone claiming to be David S. on  Thu Jul 1 05:06 CST 2004 [RELATED]

              I don't know if that would work because I don't know about the resistence levels. It would be a good way to test the rheostat so long as it doesn't do any damage. But I just don't know. I can only say that a previous writer (xraybob) did replace the rheostat, and he was having the exact same problem (not blowing the fuse but tripping the relay) and it solved his problem. I replaced the relay on mine and it did not solve the problem, nor did replacing the bulbs. So I am down to the rheostat as the next item to try.







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