I am having many many issues...one of which is with taillights. My driver side tail/brake light is fainter than my passenger side. ALso, my dummy light intermittently says I have a bulb out (sometimes only when I brake, sometimes when the lights are on). I have read now that there should be a WHITE BRACKET in the "right outer side" of my passenger tail light. Each of my tail lights has 4 sockets, in which there are 4 bulbs (the lowest sockets having BLACK three pronged brackets with dual-filament bulbs). I don't see any "outer side" of either tail light. Does this mean the prior owner put the wrong tail light on for this car? Should I take out the black three pronged brackets and replace both of them (or perhaps one of them) with a white bracket? Someone responded to one of my tortured pleas a few weeks ago that "there's no crying in baseball". Well I'm getting ready to strike out and take a bat to this car. My last post for the day, I promise.....

The response from 7Volvofamily nailed it - wagon lights are quite different from the sedan tail light layout. Actually you wagon owners may be lucky.

No white bulbholder. No "lower outer" location. Pretty straightforward but for the dual-filament bulb in the lowest light, brake and tail lights.

When the bulb failure warning system (henceforward BFWS) relay detects an imbalance between the two paired circuits, it trips and you see the "bulb out" warning light.

Paired circuits are tail lights, brake lights (all three), and low beam headlights. If there is a teeny weeny difference in current draw the warning light comes on.

When you see a quick flash on - off, especially with the brake lights, it often means that a contact somewhere (often on a bulb base) has some oxidation on it. That reduces the current flow but the currect burns off the oxide so the warning light goes out.

Try this on each brake light bulbholder: Remove the bulb and rough up the two base contacts. (I usually rub them a little on concrete driveway). Then clean the three contacts and bend each just a LITTLE towards the back of the car. Look at the places in the lamp bracket, too. Clean those places using a pencil eraser if needed.

Check the tightness of the ground conection and the other connections at the lamp. Usually just pulling off a connector and pushing it back on will get off any oxide.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

I wish I could remember who did an excelent post on how to do this on the board. It's pretty easy even with the bulb failure relay because the new brake lights will cancel each other out; leaving the relay balanced.

I believe that the passenger side is the circuit that has the extra winding in the relay to compensate for the added resistance of the third brake light.

It's a neat feature that I'm going to do when I'm caught up on some of the other maintenance items on all of the cars. Naw, I'll fit it in with an oil change. I have the print-out of that post somewhere......?

I did this to my car ( sedan) I just adde the diodes up by the Foglight switch. Very easy to do.

I later designed a printed circuit board that has a 'home' for the diodes.
Just hardwire the Bulb sockets to the circuit board, plug in the original white harness for the Tail light circuit board and , bam, Brakes that work the Fog lights AND foglights that work independent from the Brakelights.

This is on my '89. in '89 the foglights had a bulb on both sides of the car.

--
'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

Here's the post by philski.

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/985898/220/240/260/280/wagon_rear_fogs_tail_fog_brake_lightsexplainedpics.html

I can't seem to figure out how to do a hyperlink.

Here it is.

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/985900/220/240/260/280/wagon_rear_fogs_tail_fog_brake_lightsexplainedpics_really.html

I think the set-up for the wagon is different than the sedan in terms of the white bulb holder. The info you have received is for the sedan. I believe the wagons use the same socket for both sides (I just confirmed this on my '88 245)

I had a similar problem with my father's '90 745Ti and it turned out to be a loose ground at the tail-light housing. I would check that first.

So where is the correct place for the white bracket (both my tail lights have a place for 4 brackets/bulbs)?

I just posted an image showing the correct arrangement at your other post:
http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=1292268&nr_no=1

my white holder was in the wrong place, and crazy stuff was happening, bulb indicator blinking while braking and right signal on, brake lights always on...I put the white where it belonged and everything works now, but the bulb indicator still comes on with the lights, a rear fog is out though, so that might be why

Regarding your comment - a rear fog is out though, so that might be why

The fogs are not in the BFWS, only paired circuits are the tail lights, brake lights, and low beam headlights. Others are "normal". Something on a paired circuit is lighting the Bulb Out warning.

On 240s, rear fog lights became standard when the 3rd brake light came in 1986

That year, and up to 1990 (I think) there was a fog light on both sides. Then some law/rule/regulation came along and said "Some driver may mistake fog lights for brake lights, so remove one." Thus later 240's have only the left side.

In fact, my 1997 965 has the lens, but the lamp unit is not even cut out to receive a bulb holder.

If your rear fog lights are out, here's what I did. The left tail light connector has two white wires. One brings power from up front, the other takes power over to the right hand side. To find out which is which I used a voltmeter.

Both those little pincers inside the connector touch the same piece of copper foil on the circuit board. Under the pincer from up front the contact point gets oxidized and maybe burnt, resulting in no fog lights.

The connector can be opened up (look for the hinge along one side) and the two pincers swapped. That way you will get a left light, probably not a right light. BTW the same patch can be used for back-up lights, they use black wires.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

Nope.. Foglights are not part of the Bulb Failure system.
--
'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

hmm, wonder why I am getting a bulb indicator then, I will have to check at night I guess

Sometimes different manufacturer's bulbs will have a different resistance value tripping the light. Check your sockets and use di-electric grease on the ends of the bolbs to reduce corrosion.