I would like to upgrade the headlights on my 1990 240 wagon. I could not find any recent threads on this so I am posting now. I tried ordering from XnonPro they said they had LED light that would work. When I received them the locking ring for the lamp would not fit over the fan. They then said to return those and order HID, which I did. The lamp base is too large to fit through the ring and I have to return them as well. Are there any LED of HID lamps that will work? Thank you. Phil

Are the headlamps original from the factory that came with your 1990 240?

I ask as the grey adhesive between the lens and reflector body fails, moisture intrudes. The lens can at least fog or at worst the hot incandescent bulb explodes ruining the reflector material and the fluted interior of the clear plastic lens.

I've restored several sets of these 1986+ 240 US DOT from the factory headlight assemblies.

Restored or new the lens and the assembly is not very good at casting a clear beam down the road. Yet clear and bright in these restored assemblies help. Watch it with blinding on oncoming drivers.

Maybe LED bulb help the poor USDOT 1986+ stock headlights?

I've yet to get any. Halogens lose brightness rather quickly. HID may be too hot in the factory headlights if in good condition or restored to new-like condition.

240 exterior lighting is really sort of terrible. The taillights are awful. Hella was better at the wrap around five and six panel before the Valeo (a Hella brand?) six panel with the third high center brake light. Yet people install the wrong bulb and / or bulb holders in the outer most lower row for the park / brake light combo panel. The assembly and lens can be ruined.

No Volvo 240 Tail Light Madness image here. BrickPix does not display images this day.
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Beh.

Halogen bulbs need as much voltage as you can get to them for best effect. If you suffer from even small amounts of voltage drop due to poor/corroded connections in your wiring harness, you won't see any advantage with them when compared to normal bulbs. They may even be worse. No cost and a bit of time cleaning up all of the connections may give improvements that will surprise you. Afterwards the available high output bulbs can work too but will have a shorter life.

There exist article on this forum that recommend using relays and fuses in the engine bay to bring battery (B+) voltage to those high current halogen bulbs. The circuit then relieves the headlight switch and factory headlight relay and the hi/lo beam relay from the extra current draw. Them three decade owld circuits can be cranky and fussy after so many years of service!

Doing so may help the stock 1986+ USDOT headlights lights with 35/55 watt bulb used in stock to be brighter. LED may be the solution with or without headlamp circuit revision to bring B+ to the bulb filament. Bringing battery B- (ground or earth) to the head lamp circuit may help also versus grounding through the body.

Brickboard user keplerniko, who has not posted in forever had a site with a page to convert the 1986+ headlights to quad rounds without much fuss or fabrication.

The site was:

https://sites.google.com/site/keplerniko/

Find other article on 1986+ headlight conversion here like:

https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=912959&show_all=1

https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/848764/140-160/attn_keplerniko_plastic_cleaning_tip_everyone.html

A thread I started. Now the Sylvania halogens are dimmed well before they burn out in the 1991 kitts grey volvo

https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1662613/220/240/260/280/new_9004_headlight_bulbs.html

Uncle Dave Barton has an info / product page for you:

https://www.240turbo.com/headlight.html

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-240-740-940-12/1985-240gl-quad-headlight-conversion-99536/

A Turbobricks entry:

https://www.turbobricks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=332416

http://turbobricks.org/forums/showthread.php?s=63bac5f325637fddeef1a0b3154edd3c&t=58959&page=2


There exist MANY YouToobBube videos detailing 240 headlight conversion allslow in any direction.

The Conversion to quad squares is also no moar.
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Beh.

I thought about writing this post earlier but did not because it may be interpeted as being "snarky" -- until I read kittysgreyvolvo's post. I am considering changing the headlights on my recntly added to the fleet '93 245 project and replacing them with the 4 round headlights from the recently retired 1980 245. - Dave

I met another 240 owner who had converted his lights to LED. He used Torchbeam and referred me to Amazon. I bought their kit and the needed canbus. The installation was straight forward and the lights work great. Here is what I ordered.


Torchbeam T2 9004/HB1 LED Bulbs Kit, 16000 Lumens 400% Brightness, 60W 6500K Cool White Light Halogen Replacement with Fan, Plug and Play, Pack of 2

Auxbeam 9004 HB1 LED Headlight Canbus Error Free Anti Flickering Resistor Decoder, 2pcs/set Enhanced LED light Decoder Canbus Drivers

Hi Bikerider,

Thanks for the report of your new LED headlights, an interesting offering.
Your post tweaked me to look around at what's new to get a backup pair of LEDs for my Lasfit units. It's good to have spares.
The technology keeps improving and the price is trending down.

Your Torchbeam units are among the later generation of LEDs with
a 0,160" substrate that the chips are mounted. Supposedly a thinner substrate
means a better focussed beam. The high power Lasfit ($110.00) has an
80 mil/ 0.060" substrate for the chips. Woohoo! Unless they couple the
high price with a solid warranty it's so much smoke and mirrors.
I tried to find out details for the warranty of your Torchbeam and
you have so many weeks to return then it's 2 years manufacturers warranty.
I sent a letter to support@torchbeam.net asking them who pays shipping for dead LEDs,
and where do they need to be shipped. It's a very fuzzy warranty.
I also asked them what the current draw is on a single lamp in high and low beam mode. They rate each lamp at 30 watts which should be 2.14 amps
at your lamp fuse/s High and Low beams
You can take your VOM and measure the current for both high and low beams to
verify that they are 30 watt units. They probably have current limiting
and will settle in after 20 or 30 seconds to some value.
Check it out and see if you have 30 watt lamps.

See if it works OK without the Canbus adapter. The lasfit worked fine
in my 940 without a canbus adapter, and any need to modify the bulb out sensor.

I'll let you know what Torchbeam says, if anything, about the warranty.

There's no universal standard for Lumens output, so that's another fuzzy area.
Today I found a vendor hawking a 1,000,000 lumen LED set @ 5000 watts on Ebay.
I reported that vendor to Ebay as fraudulent.
You would need 180 amp fuses for each headlight! Bah Humbug!

Cheers, Bill

Halogens are obsolete, and forget HID.
There's a large assortment of replacement LEDs at Ebay for auto headlights.
I have experience with 850's, and now a 940.

The bad news:
*There are many bogus ads at Ebay, one Ebay seller claimed a 488 watt LED headlight, which is total BS. Some sellers feature even more crazy claims.

* LED specs given are often fradulent, missing key details such as current draw per lamp. Many seller Lumen output claims are not to be taken seriously.

*Some LEDs may not fit in the available space in the headlight housing.

*The Bulb out sensor can be an issue with some LED headlights.

* some LED's have physically bulky drivers that may make installation
difficult or impossible.

* Heat is the enemy of high power LEDs, many include fans, the brighter ones
draw more current and make more heat and could result in shorter life.

*Some LEDs I tried had current limiting @ 2 amps or 28 watts
that's a tactic to manage heat and service life.
So the guarantee is important, "So many years" Get a screenshot.

You can go to Ebay and search for "2000 Volvo 240 LED headlight"
providing the vendor has free returns
(USA vendor,Not going back to China)
you should be good.
Get a screen shot of the vendor return policy that there are "free returns".
This is your ticket to try the LEDs. If they don't work then it's on the seller. Ebay has a guarantee if the product doesn't fit as well.

The performance varies widely between different LEDs.
Filament bulbs are no match for LED lighting once you find the right package.
You'll be happy with superior vision at night especially on dark wet roads.

LED prices have dropped way down so it's not a budget breaker to fiddle with
LED headlights. There's new offerings every month.
Check Amazon and Walmart to compare prices with any specific LED.
It pays to shop around.

I'm having good luck with Lasfit dual beam LEDs in my 940 after 14 months,
and they're on all the time for DRL / daytime running lights.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/323366411729
2x Lasfit LCplus 9003 H4 LED Headlight Bulbs Kit High-Low Beam 50W 6000K White

Report back with your results to help other 240 drivers that want better headlights.

Cheers, Bill