Hey Ya'll,

I'm mystified. I have a 1986 Volvo wagon. Great little car but when I turn the car off, the headlights stay on. Well, actually ALL the lights stay on. I already swapped the headlight relay thinking that might be it. ...no change. Any other ideas?

As always, I sure appreciate any and all help.

 

my guess? ignition switch is broken or there's a wiring short.

looking att the 1986 wiring diagram... the ignition switch has several outputs, one of them "X", goes to the headlight switch by way of the 'hot' side of fuses 1 and 2 (fuses 1-2-3 are connected together on the input side). Ignition switch pin "X" is on in ignition positions I (accessory) and II (run).

a yellow wire goes from ignition switch pin "X" to the rightmost/rearmost terminal next to fuse 2. this is hard wired to the rigthmost/rearmost terminal next to fuse 1, which has a yellow-black wire to pin "X" of the headlight switch. note that this circuit does NOT go through fuses 1 or 2.

I bet your accessories like radio, wipers, power mirrors, and horn aren't shutting off, either?

 

Ok, here's an update. I have not gotten to dive into the dash to check out the ignition switch yet. But the day that I started this thread, I hopped into the car to run a quick errand. I got about a half a mile from the house and the battery completely dumped and the car died. I coasted into a parking lot, pulled the battery out and bummed a ride home. I put the battery on the charger to give it a full charge and went back the next day. I put the battery in, the car fired right up and drove home but without lights. So, I had lights on ALL THE TIME and NOT I DON'T HAVE THEM AT ALL! Also, whatever the problem, it does not seem to be related to the ignition switch because the wipers and other accessories associated with the ignition switch all work normally.

I think it's a relay. What do you think? Maybe it was sticking one way and now it won't.... heck I don't know.

 

This is a USA model, right?

my 1986 240 greenbook shows the power for the headlights goes from the battery via a red wire to the "positive terminal" to another red wire thats connected to the input side of fuse 6. input of fuse 6 is also connected to the inputs of fuse 7-8-9-10 internally on the fuse panel, these inputs are, again, the rightmost/rearmost row of spade lugs next to the corresponding fuses. the input tab on fuse 7 has a green/red wire that goers to the headlight relay pin 30. headlight relay pin 87 has a yellow wire to the 'step relay' (which does highbeam/lowbeam toggling).

on a 240, I believe the positive terminal is on the left fender near the relay bracket, its a flat rectangular black plastic box with a bunch of red wires going into it...

the headlight relay 124 is one of several relays under the far left dashboard air vent, above the fuse panel. My drawing shows two small relays there, the left one is for the rear fog lamps, the right one is this headlight relay 124, and then just right of that and above it is the round beer can (ok, its somewhat smaller) lamp failure module, which is on its side. I believe these 2 relays are above and somewhat aft of where the clutch pedal would be if you had a stickshift, they are definitely tucked away.

THIS drawing, http://www.davebarton.com/pdf/relay_87_240.pdf for a 1987 shows them somewhat differently, with the headlight relay 124 above the fog lamp relay 125.

Dave Barton says he's out of stock on them, but call him anyways
Volvo Relays