I bought my 96 960 in August. It gave me no problems, what so ever until about a month ago. I never drive my car on the weekends because I live near a speed trap, and prefer to not get pulled over..for some reason the police like my car on the weekends. I parked my car on a Friday, and there it sat until the following Monday. On Monday, when I went to drive the car, I noticed that my front parking light did not come on as it was supposed to, but the blinker would still blink. We tried changing the bulb (with the correct bulb..The Volvo dealer seemed positive that I had used the wrong bulb) and it still did the same thing. This problem didnt bother me too much since the blinker still worked.

Driving the car later that week, a friend of mine was behind me and called my cell to tell me that half of my tail lights werent working (The top lights on the drivers side, and the bottom lights on the passenger side). Later that day, we changed the bulbs and the problem remained. We even tried switching the sockets from the drivers side over to the passenger side, and vise versa and nothing changed.

Relunctantly, I still drove the car like this until one morning I went out and found that my battery was dead. I jumped the car, and drove it to the store. When I came back out the battery was dead again.

We had the battery tested, they said it was a good battery and that it just needed to be recharged. The battery was totally recharged, and the car started up just fine, but as soon as I turned it off and tried to restart it, it was dead again.

I'm completely lost!! Please help so I dont have to get rid of my car!!

 

You need to start with checking grounds for the lights.
Is there anyway you can take a picture of the lights in their wacky state?

 

Now I have the car running, and the flashers started blinking like the alarm was going off. I was going to pull the alarm fuse, but couldnt figure out which one it was so I just pulled the fuse for the flashers. As of right now, the car runs fine, its just the lights that are going nuts. I will try to get some pics of the lights tomorrow. Thanks so much for responding! I was getting really nervous when I saw how many people had seen the post and not had any suggestions.

 

Did all go back to normal after removing the flasher?

 

They stopped flashing, but the lights that didnt work before are still not working. I cant figure out how to attatch the picture of the lights as they are. Can I have your email address? Mine is DspeedracerC02@aol.com

 

 

 

There are the pics of the lights that arent working. Keep in mind that there are new bulbs in all of the sockets, and that the front blinker still blinks, but doesn't come on with the headlights/parking lights. Also, all of the brake lights work properly.

 

Did you check for power at the wires feeding the lights to rule out the sockets?

 

There is a relay in the trunk area that I believe controls all of these lights. It is on the left side (driver side) near the back tire under the far left trunk floor panel. There is a bracket in that small panel that has a black bracket on the forward edge. Clipped to the under side of that bracket is the relay, mine is blue. I was having problems with my left flasher staying on, my tail lights not working right and I followed the wires to that relay. So I unclipped it from the bracket and gave it a good wack with the handle of my phillips screw driver and everything has worked fine since then, about 4 months now. Give it a try or replace it and let us know if that fixes your problems.

 

I havent actually gotten around to any of your suggestions due to the bitter cold, but I did get this emails today:

These following posts were made to the thread:


Chris do not scrap your car, they will run forever. I had a very similar problem with my 1998 S90, which I am sure you know, is the same vehicle. Do the following before taking drastic measures. 1) Check to see if your fog lamps are operable. My car had a very similar problem, only with opposite lamps. Inoperable fog lamps can, in a Volvo cause problems in numerous other parts of your car. I beleive your bulbs will be GE881 and can be found at your local parts store for very little. If you have spoken to a Volvo representative, they will advise you not to change bulbs yourself. 2) If you have access to a Volvo dealer, you should also change out your headlight switch. These tend to go bonkers from time to time, as do the odometers in a lot of our cars. As far as your hazard lamps, you may very well have to discontinue use of your alram system, as this is not a problem I have had with mine. Please let me know if this helps. Cheers!

Gerard


What do you guys think?

 

I guess some possible. But no way on the foglights.

 

I have now tried everything short of checking the grounds. I tried messing with the relay in the trunk, we checked the fuses, and spent $60 changing every bulb on the exterior of the car. Anything else I might need to know about? A friend of mine was thinking about running a jumper wire from the lights that are working properly, but decided against it because of the possibility that it would short out those lights as well.

 

Try replacing the relay.

 

I Had The same problem, finally found problem source !!! We can qualify this problem as engineering default from Volvo. The source of the problem come from the main power supply wire that run below the radiator between the main and secondary fuse box. They were smokes something illegal when they had idea to put main wires 1 inch from the radiator. The wires are covered with a small plastic tray but are not covered with tape ; heat, sand little rock, water, oil, prestone and everything get in contact with the wires. Result : Wires breaks, coper oxyde built up, make a bad contact and eat the wires. Whe that beginning, that never stop and will eat all wires till the car die!
Solution : Remove the wire group from the car, remove all the tape and scrap, and redo the entire wires. Hint : If you don't want to have the same problem again instead of put back wires at the same bad place, pass it through the top of the hood below the windshield. Ill post pictured of the eatted wires and pictures of the new wires in the car soon! Hope this help!

 

Heres the helly wires!

 

If you want to be sure it's the problem you have!

Begin by removing the plastic rail that hiding the wires under the radiator and see if wires are corroded or if theres any damage (Sometimes accident on the front of the car or radiator replacment can broke theses F***** loosy wires!)

I will redo the wires tomorrow, I will post some pics!

Best Regards!
Gabriel

 

I'll take a look at these wires this weekend..the odd thing about mine though it that my all of my brake lights still light up just not the tal light, and the front blinker still blinks, just doesnt come on with the parking lamps..if it was a problem caused by corroded wires, wouldnt the light not work at all?

 

Keep in mind that there are new bulbs in all of the sockets, and that the front blinker still blinks, but doesn't come on with the headlights/parking lights. Also, all of the brake lights work properly.

 

I replaced the relay..still absolutely nothing.