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Brake/tail light bulb holders on 240's

posted by  rstarkie on  Wed Apr 25 15:12 CST 2007
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last visit: Fri Oct 24 10:14 CST 2014
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Am I the last person to figure this out?? The bulb holders for the two filament bulbs (1157) are different on the 240 sedans. Sure one is black and one is white but I never really paid any attention to that before now.

The white must be on the passenger’s side while the black one must be on the driver’s side. Physically they will fit either side, but electrically it makes a very big difference.

The bulbs are turned 180 degrees in the black one when compared to the white one. So if you install the holders on the wrong sides you effectively end up with no (visible) brake lights. The filament that is supposed to be powered by the brake circuit (brighter) will become the tail light filament on both sides. So when you apply the brakes the second filament (dimmer) is hardly evident.

I am trying to figure out when this swap came about on one of our 89 240’s. It would appear that the added heat distorted the plastic in that part of the tail light as well.

I haven't had a chance to check the 740 or 940 sedans, but it is probably the same setup. I can't believe I hadn't noticed this before.

Randy







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    Brake/tail light bulb holders on 240's

    posted by  B.C. on  Wed Apr 25 16:43 CST 2007
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    last visit: Wed Mar 28 22:28 CST 2012
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    Man, I ran head-on into that little ditty when I tried to install a pre-1986 RH tail light into my 1986 244. Still have head scar LOL.

    After some considerable finagling with bits of stuff from BGVPD*, I made the tail light work, but never again. Now I know the difference whether the eBay seller knows or not.

    I have to imagine that Volvo, in its infinite wisdom, would not have set that up unless is was the lowest cost way after changing the lower tail lights (were 4, now 2) and adding the fog lights and hi-level brake light.

    White on the right, just like setting up a chess board.

    Regards,

    Bob

    :>)


    * Bob's Garage Volvo Parts Department







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      Brake/tail light bulb holders on 240's

      posted by  rstarkie on  Thu Apr 26 07:26 CST 2007
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      last visit: Fri Oct 24 10:14 CST 2014
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      It would seem that they might have made the indexing on the holders and on the fixture so that they could not be interchanged. Low cost is one thing, but safety is another consideration. Perhaps I expect too much and it never got thought out that far.

      At any rate keep the white on the passenger's side and the black on the driver's....

      Randy







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