Volvo 480 Club Europe

Hi

my 480 from 1987 right tail light don't work... the break light, the indicator and back up light works fine, put not the normal position light....

nothing is wrong with the bulbs, I have tried to switch the to rear lights, but is is only a problem in the right side. the one from the left which works fine dos not work when connected to the right side.

I have made a temporary solution by (bridged) connect the the to wires from the left to the right side with a little wire from the controlbox (I dont know the name of it)


I have also tried to change the box with a spare i had, but that did not help....

any one how know what to do so I can get it right?

by doing this temporary solution the light faints when I use the indicators...

When I make the connection between the wire for the positioning light between the one for the right and left side, i can hear i clicking sound, like a relay is activating in the front of the car. when both lights is on, the indicator light in the dashboard (the green light down to the left) is on, but when i remove the little wire is light is out.

What can it be? I have tried to disassemble the control box, but i cant see any problems with it. (no burns or "rust")

Also, my breaking light in the tailgate is not working any more, the light bulb is new.... it worked a few days a go.... i cant see where the problem should be, because the wiper is working fine.

High level stop light on the tailgate has a separate wire from the wiper and although it runs in the same loom. A quick visual check on the thick rubber connection as the wire leaves the tailgate may reveal a worn through insulation and a bare wire.

Continuity can also be checked quite easily .

But first I would check the bulb as they do break at odd times.

Still thinking about your rear light problem

Take your wire link out and see if any lights fade or act strangely when the rear light s are on . If there is a strange reaction it is usually down to an earth problem.

For example how often have you seen a car slow down the rear stop light s come on and the indicator light glows this is due to a faulty earth return. The fault can be a rusted bulb or oxidation of a builb mount.

Need more data on this problem.

Zoist wrote:by doing this temporary solution the light faints when I use the indicators...

this is because of the bad ground. if I remember well it's on the left hand side in the trunk somewhere around light cluster.

the purpouse of the control box you've mentioned is for the rear taillights + brake lights + bulb failure check.
I've checked schematics in greenbook and if they are correct then list of thing you should check are:

1) if number plate lights work fine than you have power supplied to control box (not sure, but seems it's yellow-brown wire). also you should have two more yellow-brown wires running from the connector to right taillight. check voltage on the output side and wires for continuity

2) if number plate lights don't work then check fuse #11 (number could be wrong)

3) if fuses are fine there is connector in the wiring loom which interconnects front loom with rear. it should be 20pin (3rows) however I've no clue where exactly it is located. from the diagram it's not very clear, but seems like it's under the dashboard on drivers side

as for the break lights if the problem is just with tailgate one check for continuity between control box and light on blue-green wire.

hope this helps. bear in mind that wire color codes could be not 100% correct as I've checked with Hayens techbook and they provide different colors

Hi

I have tested the bulb in the tailgate, and it is fine.

When I use the bridge connection, the lights react strangely as you sad Jim. when I use the indicators the lights fade out. My dashboard always indicates that I have a problem with my light, except when i turn off all the light. (In Denmark the law says that the light shall be on at all time of the day)

There is nothing wrong with any other lights of the car, the numberplate light is fine to.

There is nothing wrong with my fuses.

when I chek the connections with my multimeter, I found connection between the marked wires. the connection is between both lamps and the controlbox.
(marked with a red line, wire 1, 2, 5, 6)

strange
take look at these wiring diagrams, not the best quality but maybe they'll help track problem.