Dash says low beam out on my 2011 S40. Passenger side.

Went to AutoZone and bought a new bulb (H11 Sylvania).

I thought easy peasy change (easiest bulb I've had to change on any car I've owned) but no go.
Put the working bulb into the non-working to see if it was my new bulb. Working bulb from driver side in and it wouldn't work either. Put new bulb I bought into driver side to see if it was a bad bulb. It worked on driver side so new bulb is good.

The high beam does work on both sides.

Thoughts on what I might need to check?

 

Update:

I took the bulb that was supposedly bad and put it in the driver's side. It works so it's definitely not a bulb issue.

 

There's no fuses for the low beams. (there are fuses for the high beams) A wiring diagram can be found here

https://volvodiag.com/ewd-online-eng/

A good first step would be to scan the CEM with a compatible scan tool. And with that tool you can check the status of what the CEM thinks is happening. It's possible that a problem in the CEM is the culprit - a company such as xemodex.com can solve that cheaper than a new CEM from Volvo.

 

Re: Scan tool - is that something a place like AutoZone might have or is it something I have to buy?

 

I would imagine a typical Autoparts free scan would be for OBD/emission problems only (so they can suggest parts to sell you) and those tools are not advanced enough to talk to all the control units shown in the diagram above.

 

Ideally, you get VIDA installed on a laptop, and work out all the details for the cabling and operating system, etc. (and it can be "interesting"). That gives you a huge resource that will make working on your Volvo a whole lot easier in the future, though you may suffer in the short-term.

Or you can find a quality Volvo-specific two-way scan tool. I've had good luck with the Autophix scanners (the 7110 is the one for Volvos). It will talk to / monitor pretty much all of the systems in your car, and should give you a whole lot more actionable data than a parts store generic OBD scanner. I haven't owned that scanner, BTW, but have had one for my BMW (just sold it) and my current Mercedes (works like a champ for that one).

 

I believe the low beams are relayed via the CEM. What I'd do first is check the socket - power? ground? then I'd work back to the CEM.