Volvo 480 Club Europe

My car: 480S 1993

I've been reading through the forums and it seems there's a few common problems with electrics.

My speedo has been working on and off for a while now. When I go over a bump it goes off and then will suddenly come back on. The other day, my radio kept going on and off with the aerial going up and down. This happened about five times so I switched it off. Later in the day (after dark) I couldn't switch the pop-ups on - both were dead. The headlamps were on though.

I called out RAC as it was cold and dark and wanted to get home. He tested fuses and all were ok. He raised headlamps manually but when the bonnet was closed they retracted so he disconnected bonnet sensor and lights stayed up. He thought it was a faulty switch. However, I'm not too sure as the day running lights were not working either and the earlier radio problem would point elsewhere. But where exactly?

I will take it to my garage next week but would be good to get some feedback or ideas here if possible. Another thing was that when he moved some wires between the battery and wing, the pop-up started to raise so looks like there's a bad connection somewhere that's affecting the radio, the pop-ups and the day running lights.

Would really appreciate any ideas or maybe someone else has had similar problems.

Many thanks.

Jean

Hi Jean,
On the uk cars, a blown or faulty daylight running light disables the pop-ups - we got the same system as in Sweden, where it is illegal to drive with the drls not working so the pop ups not coming up acts as an alerts (why not a simple warning on the dash I wonder) Sort the drls and your pop ups will undoubtedly spring back to life.

If you have to drive with a duff drl, you can wind the pop ups manually (passenger side is very tight space because of the battery but it can be done with small hands) The trick then is to pull the elctrical connectors off the motors so they don't go back down when you close the bonnet.

The radio and speedo sound like one or more loose connections which a competent auto electrician should be able to find and fix easily together with the suspected bad connection near the battery.

Hope this helps !

Hi Sylvia, I don't know where this common misconception comes from, but there really is no connection between popup headlights and the DRL's, or there must be a massive fault in the light switch. The only difference from UK versions of the car to the mainland is the short-lived feature of dim-dip lights.

I think there are some isolated problems at play here.

The radio could just be a loose connector behind the unit or a fault inside the radio; when the radio switches off for whatever reason, the antenna also retracts.
The popup headlights both not popping up, I would first suspect the relay, which is the tall black one in the relay box (can't miss it). The bonnet switch is part of the relay circuit, if the switch is dead, the lights won't ever go up or down, they just stay where they are. You'd best disconnect the motors instead of fiddling with the bonnet switch.
Finally, the speedometer could be either the main board having broken solder joints, or the connector in the speedometer wiring loom (which sits beneath the air filter box) is having too much resistance. I can repair the first problem, fix for the second problem I have described in the howto section: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=35515

Thanks to dragonflyjewels and brinkie for the useful information. And thanks to brinkie for the speedo fix info - much appreciated.

I will take a look at the relay to see if the terminals are clean and look for any visual corrosion.

Have to agree -a blown DRL does not, in my experience with 4 UK cars now (1988, 1992, 1995 and now 1994), stop the headlamps popping up. What does affect the headlight is the wrong bulb in the DRL fitting - it has to have the correct pin offset and Volvo is (or was?) the best source to ensure the correct bulb.

As Brinkie says, headlamps most likely to be the relay as it's both of them, or else there might be a problem with the bonnet switch not telling the car it is closed (the headlamps won't move without the bonnet closed. If it's the relay I think I can help you out there...

As for speedo problems, Brinkie is your man!!

David

Thanks for the advice, David. It does seem a bit strange that both DRLs and both pop-ups are not working. I have ordered a pair of DRL bulbs from ebay - 21/4w BAZ15D - to see if that makes any difference.

I'm a complete ignorant to electronics, but I don't think neither that DLRs bulbs are related to the pop-up fail.

I have LEDs in my 91 Turbo DLRs and all works fine, no warning light on dashboard. The other bulbs that can be replaced by leds are the rear gear lights and the small side blinkers. The rest gives fault light on dashboard.

Though I would really love to have theese in the rear lights. I tried them and they really make the difference, but gives bulb warning dash light.
Anyone would enlighten me about where to place theese resistors to cancel warn light? As the warning system should read ressistance of both filaments, then there should be two resistors in the circuit?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-P21- ... 100623.m-1

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Vision-C ... B00P2D46N2

dcwalker wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:34 pm

Have to agree -a blown DRL does not, in my experience with 4 UK cars now (1988, 1992, 1995 and now 1994), stop the headlamps popping up. What does affect the headlight is the wrong bulb in the DRL fitting - it has to have the correct pin offset and Volvo is (or was?) the best source to ensure the correct bulb.

As Brinkie says, headlamps most likely to be the relay as it's both of them, or else there might be a problem with the bonnet switch not telling the car it is closed (the headlamps won't move without the bonnet closed. If it's the relay I think I can help you out there...

As for speedo problems, Brinkie is your man!!

David

I posted back in July (5th) that in my case (model 1993) a dodgy new DRL bulb had been the cause of the pop ups not functionning properly or at all. As soon as I replaced the cheap new bulb with another one the problem stopped. There was no issue with a relay or switch or anything.

Hello Jean,

Whatever is causing it, I hope you get it sorted soon - the pop up headlights are (in my opinion) one of life's little pleasures, so when they don't work, life is less bright for all kinds of reasons Good luck!

Are you coming on the May 12th Meet up? I'm hoping to join in from Lancashire (went last year) and it was a fabulous day.

Martin

Hi Martin. Yes, I agree the pop-ups are fantastic and up until now (I've had the car for 18 years) I've had no problems with lights.

I will take a look at the weekend when I get my DLR bulbs delivered.

Thanks for everyone's help - much appreciated.

Jean

Just to update everyone that the problem has now been fixed.

Relay OK. Both DRL bulbs replaced. One had blown. Pop-up lights fuse changed and now all working.

So looks like the blown DRL bulb caused the problem.

Good to be able to drive at night again!

Glad you're sorted

The headlights earth through the DRL connections, and are very sensitive to anything being not quite right there!

David