[amym]

None of the lights in the rear of my 1988 240 DL wagon are working - that is except the license plate light. The bulbs have been replaced, fuses not the issue. I don't have the expertise to check out the electrical system, so have no idea how to go about this.

I'm in Pittsburgh, PA - can anyone help?

Thanks, Amy

 

[sulley007]

Amy, did you replace with generic bulbs or name brand bulbs? Did all the lights go out at the exact same time? Are both the brake lights and the running lights out?

 

[amym]

good question. I believe they are name brand bulbs. Both the brake lights and the running lights are out, as well as reverse lights. I actually don't know if they went out at the same time or not, since I didn't even know this was going on until I got a brake light signal on the dashboard when I hit the brakes a few months ago.

The back turn signals were working, but one died about a month ago, and the other yesterday. We can't drive it obviously, but would like to get it fixed by a good volvo mechanic. I took it to a generalist already and he just replaced the bulbs I had already replaced and didn't even check it. made no difference.

Thanks for your help!

I forgot to mention that the front lights (headlights, turn signals) are working fine. Thanks again for any help.

 

[sulley007]

Do you have a volt meter where you can test and see if voltage is getting to the rear outlets? It may be you have a bad bulb relay, they run around $100. You could also have a bad brake light switch.

 

[Mainzerin]

I had similar issue with my lights. I kinda took apart the light assembly in the rear and checked out the plastic circut that connects the lights and gies them juice. I noticed that all or better most were worn down causing the lights to stay off since they had no connect to 'juice', please forgive my lack of technical vocab.
Anyways when I saw that most were rubbed of I took my soder irong from my jewelry making kit and slightly put some metal on it and voila...the rear was lit again....i am not sure its the same issue that your are having but definitly worth a look. I also saw the printed plastic circuits at pretty reasonable prices online....

Hope this helps a bit!