This one is continuing to stump the hell out of me. I have a 96 960 that keeps blowing headlight fuses and then when you tap the breaks it blows the brake fuse. I have replaced just about every switch, micro bulb in each switch, and every single bulb in the running and headlamps and I still cant figure out what is shorting out the headlights. This is killing me. Any ideas? Thanks in advance

 

Sedan or wagon?

 

Hi, Swiftjustice, Its a sedan, and here's another strange fact. The headlights never blow out in the summertime when the vehicle is hot, only when its cold. I know this sounds strange but last night I tried something, I started the car cold and the lights blew out, I let it warm up for ten mins. or so, and put the heater on high and let the car interior warm up to around 80 degree's or so, and the lights did not blow out no matter what I did. I can't explain this?

 

Hey,

Did you ever figure out what was causing the problem with your headlights fuse blowing in cold weather? Our 960 wagon is behaving the same way.

Thanks,
knine

 

Yes, After replacing every single bulb in the dash board, I mean every bulb, even the micro bulbs in each switch, it turned out to be the bulbs that are in the heater a/c and fan control unit (ECC). The bulbs can be bought at radio shack, part #272-1092 Cut out the long leads and re-install into sockets. Sort of like the old christmas tree lights. Don't yank the old ones from the socket! You need to cut out the leads and they should come out of the sockets easily. Then just thread the new ones in and this should do it. I myself can't believe that this was the culprit but sure enough it was. No more fuse's blowing. I got this info from another great member on this forum. Take out the ECC following this dash panel removal technique
Instrument panel removal instructions on a Volvo 960

 

Wow! Thanks!!! I am going to try that (hopefully this week) and let you know how it goes. This nothing like HOPE !

 

Correction > There is nothing like hope! I thought that I had gone through everything. I've been looking at grounding points, yada yada ....) Fortunately, we have (2) 960's in the family, so troubleshooting is sometimes easier since we can swap parts between vehicles. I had recently narrowed it down to something "behind the dash". This definitely brings hope. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!

 

DOH!!! I just remembered that I previously swapped ECC's between cars while troubleshooting a heater/ac issue. The problem with fuses blowing in cold weather existed in my wife's car at that time. Since the problem did not move to my car, I am assuming that the problem is NOT related to the ECC in this case.

 

I should mention that my wife's car is a '96 960 wagon, while I drive a '97 960 sedan. I'm wondering if there might be something else to check on the wagon that could be causing this. Regardless, I hope to be able to replace the ECC bulbs by the weekend. At least I'll know. I'm wondering if something changed in '97 to correct this problem, since my car doesn't seem to be affected by the ECC. (Both ECC's have blown bulbs in them. Perhaps, my wife's car is affected.) Anyway, thanks. If you stumbled across anything related to this problem to check on a wagon, please let me know. Sorry for all the questions and rambling, but this problem is driving me crazy! Thanks again.