I seem to be having an issue with my stoplights. Earlier last week I had an issue where my car will not release the car from park, so I must use the shift lock button. I understand this is tied into the stop light so I have checked every fues in the interior box under the dash (stoplight specifically) and the fuse box under the hood. I had thought this was the issue with the vehicle.

I have chedk every tail light bulb and they are all fine, The parklights which are on all the time due to DRL work fine, the reverse light works fine along with the rear fog, signals and licence plate bulbs. I am kind of stumped on what the issue could be therefore as everything seems to be fine

Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

Edit: I see there is a switch under the dash that becomes fully extended when the brake pedal is pushed in, I believe this is the stop light switch, could this be my issue?
I believe this is the part? RockAuto Parts Catalog
I would buy it locally though to get it sooner

 

It would be nice to have the schematics of this particular circuit on this particular model. But.... if you need it like yesterday and you don't have the schematics, I'd just try shorting the two prongs on the stoplight switch ( the one you found below the dash) & see if the lights come on. Be careful try not shorting it to anything else though. This circuit SHOULD be ground driven, so there could be a relay downstream that actually sends the + to the stoplights. If above does nothing you can try finding the relay & swapping same number relay from some place else and see if it works.
All of the above advise - at your own risk - as always
btw, I was not aware that shift interlock has anything to do with the stoplights, but if it does maybe check if there is a switch or some kind of contacts by the shifter... idono
GL

 

Thanks nmikmik. It is very difficult without any schematics so I was kind of following where they went. I hadn't noticed that there were two similar plunger type solenoids activated by the brake pedal. I did mange to get the bottom one off, it is made by hella so I am assuming that has something to do with the lights. I tested it and it was zero resistance when the plunger was extended and resistance occured I pressed in the plunger.

Edit: Looks like I was mistaken, the bottom switch is something to do with the shift lock and the upper one must be the lights as it looks identical to the brake light switches found here:
http://www.thepartsbin.com/guides/vo...ht_switch.html

Above this is a volvo branded plunger type solenoid similar to the ones I had linked in my first post so ti seems that this is the shift lock. I am having a heck of a time removing it though. I was able to remove the wire harness but can't get my head in far enough to figure out how it is held in the metal bracket. Here is the weird part though. If you pull the sensor back it clicks backwards kind of like say how a zip tie clicks. When I pulled it back as far as it would go, the brake lights turned on! The shifting still didn't work, but I don't mind if I can get the lights fixed first so I can at least drive the car safely. This switch appears to be actuated by a rubber piece on the brake pedal. So I am thinking that this switch might get my lights working again and perhaps the shift lock, otherwise I would need to check in the centre console.

Does anyone have any idea if this solenoid would fix or affect the lights due to them turning on when I pulled it back and turned off again when I pushed it forward and or how to remove it from its bracket? The hella solenoid I could simply remove by pressing my fingers on the tabs and pulling it out but the volvo shift lock switch is not mounted in the same way?

Any help is still appreciated.

 

you really don't need to take them off the brackets to test them. Did you try shorting the contacts on the one that makes the brake lights come on?
Never mind there's more than two contacts, so you wouldn't know which ones to short
If you pull on the switchs' actuator - the part that touches the brake pedal but it does not do it itself. There is a chance that it's stuck or the spring inside it is broken. I am not next to my car right now, so I can't look. But from what I imagine, this should be "normal" off type of switch. I am having a hard time understanding what do you call solenoid, I suspect that you are talking about the switch.
Maybe try cleaning it in place with some compressed air and/or lubricating it a bit. I am guessing if it's already bad no real harm will do if you don't overdoit .

 

Thanks nmimkmik. I do like to mix up my terms since I do not know too much about electrical items as all my work is mechanical. The switch it is a light actuation on the 'post' of the switch and it can be moved in and out with the clicking to position it properly. I did get the lights working with the brake light switch. I believe it is shot though as when we opened it up it appeared to be sticking at one point on the springs. It was not sensitive enough anymore unless we used our finger instead of the pedal to actuate it. The tranmission does still not shift so my best guess now is that when it stopped shifting from park, I probably broke it by my use of the break pedal to try and get it to shift
Maybe I will check the solenoid when I get a chance but I just needed the lights working. Thanks for your help though, it is much appreciated!

 

Just an update. I ended up getting the brake light switch from volvo as no one in town had a generic one in stock. It was a bit more at $68 but it was oem so oh well. I could tell right away that the plunger had much more play than the broken one. I isntalled it and the stop lights work again and the park lock issue is also gone, so it fixed both problems! Thanks again for the help nmikmik!

 

I am glad that I was able to help at least a bit and with the fact you were able to take care of it yourself. Both dealer & electrical shop option would cost you a bundle.
GL

btw, try to see if there is too much impact from the brake pedal to the switch. i.e. if there is a chance it's pushing it inwards too far.... maybe that is the reason that switch went bad in the first place.

 

Yes, I was glad I was able to tackle it myself. Was not too much fun but it was nice to figure it out. I did make sure to adjust it and check the rubber piece that contacts the plunger. Seemed to be fine, but I will double check after a few days to make sure that it is still set at the right position. I know the pedal force along clicks it back into position initially. Worked fine today on the way to work though, so nice being able to shift and have brake lights again