Hi all,

I did a search of the forum on 'dash light' and didn't see any relevant posts to my question, so here I go.

As silly as it may sound, how do I change the dash light bulbs in our '79 244DL? I can see the bulb holders in the back of the dash, so getting to them is not a problem. But they don't come out easily like say a chevy. Do they come out of the back of the dash, and if so, how?

There's about 4 lights out, making the gas gauge and speedo very dark while night driving. It's my daughter's car now, and I thought I should replace them. The local Car Quest Auto had the right bulbs, but I cannot figure out how I'm supposed to get the old ones out.

The owner's manual is useless, referring me to a Volvo dealer to accomplish the task. There is no way I will take this car to a dealer for dash lights.

Any ideas?

On another note, have any of you with the older sedans repaired the metal areas that the bulb holers for the tail lights get power from? Our right brake light has a burned area on that metal circuit and is constantly going out. I can put it in not quite tight and make it function, but I'd rather repair it. I'm handy with a soldering iron...what would I use for material to repair it?

One last thing... Ebay is a good source for parts for these older 200 series Volvos. I've gotten bulb holders for the tail lights, key blanks, replacement fuse upgrades, and many other needed parts relatively inexpensively there. When I can afford it, I buy bigger items at IPD (like motor mounts and a tranny mount), but usually I'll check Ebay before I spend money at IPD that I could use for fuel instead.

Thanks in advance for any help with the dash light bulbs you can offer!

 

Usually the easiest way to change the dash bulbs is to remove the instrument cluster, and replace them on the bench. But if you can see the bulb holders, and get your hand back there, they should twist/unscrew to the left then pull out to remove. To remove the cluster on the earlier cars according to my manual, remove the negative battery terminal ,remove the plastic trim on the steering column ( usually 4 screws), remove any plastic trim in front of the cluster ( either snap panels or screws), remove the speedo cable then the unit should move up and out to clear the clip. Label the wires before removal.
If you do not want to replace the whole tail light board unit, then folks have done many creative things over the years to repair, usually involving replacing the board connections with point to point wiring, soldered to the existing bulb holder and harness, then shrink wrapped . You can bridge just a bad spot on a board with copper wire and solder.
fcpgroton.com and eEuroparts.com are usually cheaper for parts than IPD. Free shipping at eEuro if order is over $40.

 

Thank you for the fast reply, Ignavus!

I can reach the bulb holders on the back of the dash, so I think I'll leave the gauges in place. I tried to remove them while installing a new speedometer cable about a year ago, and although I had removed everything that could be removed, I never did get the gauges loose. That's why I'm willing to lay upside-down to change the bulbs. The manual doesn't say it, but taking those gauges out of the dash is a lot of work, and very time consuming. *whew*

Thanks for the other links to parts! IPD is usually pretty expensive, and ebay is a good source but rarely is the exact part available when I need it.

I'll get a little bit of heavy copper wire and solder it into the burned away part of the circuit for the tail lights. It's such a neat system I hate to alter it unnecessarily by wiring the bulb holders direct.

Amazingly, even as old as it is, this little 244 is a sweet little car and almost everything still works. Some day I'll bite the bullet and buy a new gear for the odometer, but in the mean time we have the speedo working and it seems accurate. We just re-did the rear brakes with new calipers, and I paid IPD a fortune for a new muffler and resonator. So if I can just get all the little stuff working it should continue to be a great little car for my daughter.

Later today I am pulling the pre-pump out of the tank in an effort to track down another performance problem. Even with the constant need for maintenance, I love this little vehicle.

Thanks again!
Angie (bykrmom)