1986 Volvo 240 sedan - Malfunctioning bulb warning comes on when braking

Asked by volvo240 Oct 06, 2015 at 06:39 PM about the 1986 Volvo 240 DL

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

This model shares a light bulb (rightmost and leftmost) for position and brake
lights. bought the recommended size (US 1157)
When depressing brake pedal, malfunctioning bulb warning light comes on:
- during day light, it looks like the second position light comes on, not the
brake light, since it is dimmer.
- during night when turning the positions on, the brake lights come on, light is
much brighter then position light
Suspecting a miss-wired connection somewhere but don't know where to
look?! Thx

volvo240 answered 9 years ago

OK... This is one of kind ...:-) only Volvo can design stuff like this! or maybe not, who knows the intricate ways of electricity!? I kept looking up different sites and stumbled upon one where a similar problem was reported. The solution is (drum roll please) - the bulb housings for this model have 2 colors white and black; with the naked eye one cannot see any difference since they both accept the same bulb size (US no 1157), have three prongs etc. but the White one needs to be installed on the right rear end side and the Black on the left .. TAADAA! Problem solved.

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volvofan answered 8 years ago

1157 and 1156 are for US model cars, not for Volvo cars. Your Bulb starts with the letter G and is the large size for brake lights, not the mini bulb. The mini bulb is for the parking lights. Ask the tech in your local auto store to look it up and do not accept 115 or 1156.

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