Volvo 480 Club Europe

I am sure (and hoping) this is a simple fix!

O/S headlight goes up and works ok - no problems - N/S stays down and doesn't move.

On turning headlights off O/S one goes down - no problems, and N/S pops up and then goes immediately down.

Suggestions please!

Thanks

Chris

No specific fix from me, but there have been many a popup thread has popped-up previously so a search may give some pointers. One simple thing to check may be the front drls: do they have the correct bulbs/are they working fine (they can screw up the popups, somehow ).

I have had several 480's with this issue - but generally it is when they have been stood for a while. After a couple of days of regular running things have always sorted themselves. I don't know if it's moisture or some other contamination in the circuit but fortunately I have NEVER had to dig deeper. I almost come to expect it in any of my cars that have been "mothballed" for some time.

Just my 2c but i had an issue with winking, it turned out to be the big multi connector for the light, a big white thing located behind the light, near the battery, unplugged it cleaned it with contact cleaner, worked, also make sure the top cover is fitted correctly if its too far back it can catch and cause an issue, check all other fixings while your at it..

Mine did similar after Volvo had messed about with it. Definitely check DRL connections and lamps as noted but for me this worked -

I turned the lights on with ignition off, this raised one unit, I then turned the lights off and as normal it stays up.

The raised light was then lowered manually with the nut at the rear of the unit so both were down.

Then either because this had re synchronised things or luck all then worked as normal.

Regards

Another thought is that odd things happen if engine is OFF, maybe connected with voltages/DRL etc?

it happened on ours 'just' before MoT and was almpst tempted to wind them up and pull the fuse then they sorted themselves out again!

Have charged the battery, and cleaned the multi connector with contact cleaner and then contralube and they now work, although maybe the first time the are used each day they still fail and are then ok.

Looking for a suggestion as to the best way to lubricate the mechanism and what to use? I suspect WD40 is too thin an oil?

Many thanks

Chris

Are the 'gas struts still fitted?

i ditched mine as they made a squeaky noise and were less of a gas assist and more of a gas resist

this might be enough to slow movement , can't remember what I used to lubricate them with, more than likely fresh engine oil or WD40 !

Winking headlights are usually caused by bad earthing, but can also be a bad diode inside the pop up motor.

The headlight pop up motor is working with the same principle as the windshield wipers. There is a conducting disc with an interruption inside the motor; a sliding contact makes and electric circuit, when interrupted it will make (through a relay) the motor stop at the resting position. The circuit is such that the motor finishes the turn, even when the power is removed from the control contact of the relay. If you shut down the windshield wipers, they will continue to wipe until they are back in the resting position. The popups work the same way, but they have TWO discs with the interruption 180 degrees apart, to provide for two resting positions: up and down.

There is a special double relay in the relay box (can't miss it, it the tallest one) that switches the headlight popup motor from the positive supply to earth, when the motor needs to be stopped. This causes the electric motor to brake immediately. If you remove the earth, the electric brake doesn't work and the headlight motor will revolve the sliding contact past the interruption. Power is applied again to the relay, and the motor will make another turn.
Usually you can fix this by cleaning the contacts inside the round white connector that connects the pop up motor to the wiring loom. Do this at both the left and right hand side motor, the circuits are connected to each other. Then check the earthing of the relay box and clean the relay contacts.

What also may be the cause, is improper alignment of the headlight to the motor. Also, the hydraulic dampers are there for a good reason. Remove the dampers and the motor really has to work hard to push the lamp upwards, causing an early failure of the electric motor.

Other causes of mayhem are worn sliding contacts and/or conductors inside the motor, causing the headlight to stop half-way, or not to move at all. It is possible to open up a motor and fix this, but it is usually cheaper and quicker to replace the motor with one from a scrapped 480 (until the source of scrap parts dry up, that is).

Cheers,

Robert
(Volvo 480 owner & electronics tinkerer, treasurer of the Volvo 480-Register at the moment)

Hi Robert,

What is the Volvo 480 register that you are treasurer of?

I'm not allowed to post links here, but it's the Dutch Volvo 480 club really. I am also hyper-active on the Dutch Volvo 480 forum, read a complaint somewhere that it was impossible to post on the UK forum and apparently I proved him wrong.

Ah, I see.

Hello! Nice to see you on here!

brinkie it is an anti spam measure . You need 10 posts before you can post pictures or links.

welcome