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I finally hard wired one of my 240s Tail lights. Some lessons I learned that might save you trouble;
Its tedious but not hard.
Buy some electrical solder flux! I wish I had done this 40 years ago. It would have encouraged me to solder more and crimp less. I only recently learned there WAS electrical solder flux.
Volvo brand bulb holder metal is easy to solder IF YOU USE FLUX.
ALVO brand holders are made from some alien "metal" that is immune to solder and flux. I couldn't do it.
Use longer wire than you think you need the first time you do it.
Instead of using the double element bulb for brake lights which sometimes melts the taillight plastic,(while in traffic jams when you are in gear and have your foot on the brakes for long periods.) I used only one of the elements for a running light. I used a different existing lamp for brakes. 240s have plenty of taillights.
It is nice not having to worry about your tail lights any more, or to hear your friends tell you a tail light is out.
Also, I was not paying attention and wired my backup lights to the fog light switch! Hmmm..... thinking about leaving it that way.
Hope this helps someone.
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Way to go! I did some hard wiring on mine -- now when I step on the brakes, I get 3 bright lights on each side including one LED bulb on each side.
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Wow. Overkill, but not always a bad thing. I like the led idea, especially to replace the double filament bulb, which I suspect melts the tail light during long periods of braking. The guy behind you will definitely know when you apply your brakes.
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"I like the led idea, especially to replace the double filament bulb, which I suspect melts the tail light during long periods of braking."
It is one of those "silly engineer" myths that the bulb is melting the tail lamp's plastic. People are quick to blame the design, rather than its implementation.
If the brake lamps were the cause of the melting, they would have been melting in the first few warranty years back in '79, but the heat is actually generated by the lousy oxidized connections - bulb to holder, holder to flex circuit - caused by moisture ingress from leaky welds in the tail light's housing.
When you replace those pricey flex boards, you fail to address the problem if the plastic has already deformed, reducing the contact force at the bulb holders and harness connector. That spring force is what deforms the plastic as the heat softens it. That force is what keeps contact resistance at a minimum. So the new boards quickly become like the old ones.
Once you wire around those bulb holder and harness connectors, you've fixed the heat problem permanently.
And if you solder to the bulb holders, you still have easy access to bulb replacement -- and you will need to replace bulbs, because those leaky lens welds will fill them with water, and the eighth-inch drain holes you drilled will wind up being clogged by debris.
Sure LEDs will reduce the heat, not only in the generation of light, but in reduction of the current (I) in the high-resistance contacts (R) by I-squared-R losses. Then you have to sort out the bulb failure warning consequences, which in the aftermarket industry have been addressed by load resistors, completely negating the efficiency and current reduction benefits of the conversion.
So not only do you wind up wasting time, but also some pocket change. However, the process and the learning that accompanies it is what makes a hobby attractive.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U. C. L. A.
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hi Art.
of course those older 240s didn't have those delicate flex boards.
the issue I find is with the wagon rear lighting.
running without that 'fog' switch that lights up a second red rear lamp (at least on my 87; 240 wagon tail lights no more visible than those old round tail lights on a 68 BMW 1600.
Sedans are a different story---as you mentioned earlier in this thread.
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Did the same thing with my 89 740 having the fogs go on with the brakes. It was easier then as both the left and rear fogs were present so I didn't have to dremel an opening for a new holder. I put my diodes in a "Y" up at the front between the brake pedal switch and fog light switch. The fogs would stay on when switched, but otherwise only went on with the brakes. I actually had someone tell me the lights were now too bright.
My only problem was I didn't use beefy enough diodes so they only lasted a couple of years before frying and I never got around to replacing them before selling the car. I'd made the "Y" using disconnecting crimp terminals so I could pull it out and make everything original lest it cause the next owner confusion if they ever looked up under the dash.
For a sedan I probably wouldn't bother again, but for the wimpy tail lighting in my wagons I'm starting to think it would be a worthwhile project what with the ever increasing number of impatient tailgaters on overcrowded highways. I don't have a problem tapping the brakes to annoy their retinas with bright brake lights if it wakes them up to the fact they're driving way too close for safety. It doesn't matter if a rear ender is their fault, what matters is my precious old Volvos getting written off with just a small bit of damage.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now
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Thank you Dave, Art, and folks,
Not ever have brake lights bright enough! Motorist here all hopped up on the mobile device when tailgating at 90 MPH. I stay the posted speedo limit yet they get close before vrooming around at close range before the ingress or egress lane opens or ends. Worse here than in other tech using city regions.
Terrible.
Also want to try them LED bulbs as they are cooler.
Yet need to repair some more taillights as the set on the 1991 have about had it with the water filling and draining and layers of the GOOP RV, Marine, or other clear GOOP UV resist stuff.
Off to Houghton, MI? Hmmm. Maybe well inland highland Maine?
--
Jonathan Harshman Winters III: The Mightiest, Greatest, & Most Powerful North American Comedian & Comedic Actor in Perpetuity
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Never thought of the issue being water related.
Had an old HVAC instructor tell me " You can test a lot of things in a lab, but you can not test time." Makes sense to me.
The method I used was to toss the flex boards and connect the wiring to the bulb holders with solder. The replacement tail lights had heat deformity. I never thought of soldering directly to the flex board. I have had as many issues with the wires connector as with the bulb to flex board area.
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"I have had as many issues with the wires connector as with the bulb to flex board area. "
Yes exactly. The tongue of plastic you fold the flex circuit over squeezes out from the heat generated there. So you wind up cutting off the connector and soldering the harness wires directly to the flex board.
I hated to do this, because it meant I couldn't easily remove the tail lamp assembly to the workbench to mess with it. Here on Brickboard, the long time member Tony Hoffman made some ingenious circuit boards to lick that problem. Made them a long time ago. The connector is a standard card-edge connector, just like you find up at the rear of the speedometer.
Aside from being a new connection surface, the glass epoxy substrate doesn't deform like the thermoplastic, if heat were to develop.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
The dead batteries were given out free of charge.
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That is pretty slick. Where can you get that circuit board?
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"Where can you get that circuit board?"
Good question. Maybe Tony will see this thread or you could try to contact him yourself. I think he had access to prototype PCBs where he worked back in '05, but I don't know for sure.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
Drive it like you stole it. Then fix it like 4:45 in the pick'n'pull.
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"240s have plenty of taillights."
242s and 244s yes.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
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I like the fact you are rebuilding brake lights.
I like the fact of anyone repairing anything at any time!
I suspect everyone who drives a 30 year old car is in the "dont waste anything but time club". I have been rightly accused of being cheap more than once. Those flex boards are 25 bucks or more each plus shipping, and of dubious quality. The price of two of those would almost pay for the soldering gun and supplies needed to hard wire. I have always dealt with old flex boards that were damaged at the plug
Also, I like "re-engineering", if I believe it improves over the original . The hard wiring gives me peace of mind.
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I agree hardwiring is a more durable method to ensure more reliable brake lights!
I have a stack of them flexi circuit boards that are all yunkyard pulls. Not bought one new (yet). Most are failed as, so aforementioned, the prior owner / user installs the bulb holder in the wrong position and the wrong bulb in the bulb holder. Yet the bad flexi boards are the perfect candidate for the hardwire.
I'd also like to use the fog lamp red lens bulb chamber both sides as a brake light with the red lens lower, outer as a brake and running light. Yet add a circuit so the single rear red fog light works. Some diodes and something controlling voltage threshold something something. Maintaining proper and bright taillights is enough of a task.
Yet the copper alloy in the flexi circuit board is thin where the bulb holder tinned copper contact contacts the bare copper on the flexi board.
Also, getting wet helps not. Install the wrong bulb or bulb holder in the wrong spot may mean the brighter 32-candle power 26-watt filament is on when the lights are on. So the plastic heats up and distorts or cracks. Allowing water intrusion. And so as Mr. Benstein mentions, drill drain holes so you avoid:
May make for a nice goldfish bowl? Drained with drilled drain holes at the red lens plastic next to the lens to black plastic housing weld.
Water got around the US Norther America driver side taillight foamy gasket as the sheet metal is not factory true from a prior owner accident fussing up the sheet metal there. I double stack the foamy gasket. Temperance when applying torque to the Valeo six panel wrap around taillights. I find the Hella (what became Valeo I guess?) taillights from the early 1980s to be much more durable. The Hella red lenses are more brilliant and a deeper ruby red that better resists sun fade should your 240s remain outdoors and rot in the slovenly midwest as mine do; all three.
I like what Mr. Yount does with his 1982 Volvo 282 six panel wrap around taillights!
I also remove these things as they collect dust and dim the illumination for a good Simple Green wash and rinse occasionally.
I'll have to hardwire sometime soon. The metal circuit in the 1990 wagon needs an occasional twist.
Always the dual-filament red lens running / brake light delivering most of the issue.
Remember, as the owner manual indicates on third brake light equipped RWD Volvo 240 sedan, and some 700 and 900 models, the white dual filament bulb holder goes to the right side tail light outer most lower red lens and the black dual filament bulb holder goes to the left side outer most lower red lens on the taillight.
Though with the hardwire method, I may omit the flexi circuit board and use a five or six-pin plug and jack to connect the taillight circuits to the wire harness directly. Began to futz with this. The factory wire harness connector where it contacts the flex circuit board can become pitted and burned through as a result, again, of wrong bulb holder and bulb in the wrong socket.
You can find replacement lower, outer red brake light replacement lenses on eBay. Time ot get the dremel out after scooping away the butyl rubber adhesive on them older Estonian taillights. The lens colors are good!
Go Packers! Go Kansas City (hey, hey, hey)!
cheers,
Rolled Oats Breakfast Boyeeee!!!!
--
Jonathan Harshman Winters III: The Mightiest, Greatest, & Most Powerful North American Comedian & Comedic Actor in Perpetuity
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Why does the right rear tail/brake light bulb need a white bulb holder?
My 93 940 wagon has all black holders, and I'm having issues with tail light going out when brake pedal is pressed (and brake light does not come on).
Thanks
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Sorry to be a sloe floe (gin) tardy reply.
So far as I know, and your model year owner manual states with some ambiguity, 940 Wagon with hi center third brake light uses a dual filament black bulb holder in the bottom red lens combo park / brake light with 1157 lens
On some 700 - 900 sedan model years use the white dual filament bulb holder for the right side tail light red lens park / brake light combo.
The exception I've seen is the 940 sedan with the taillights that use the metal circuit and not the flexi circuit board. The park light is separate from the brake light. So the brake light is 1156 single filament.
Yet check the owner manual to verify, pleeeeeeeeeeze!!!!
Hope that halps yoo.
GLP technical writer boy, soo, please, selling silver bits given to me decades ago by a relative now long dead at the numismatist store. No antacid tablet cGMP plant for me, please. Parking sucks during Cardinals games.
I want to see Baaahhhhhhston.
--
Jonathan Harshman Winters III: The Mightiest, Greatest, & Most Powerful North American Comedian & Comedic Actor in Perpetuity
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