Volvo 480 Club Europe

Hey guys and girls

A couple of weeks ago I finally took delivery of H559 OAB, a 1990 ES with 22k. I will post up photos and a run down of the great and some things that aren't so great but all in all it's a beautiful 480 and importantly as new underneath. Anyway I digress!

The other day I stopped, pulled the full beam stalk to let a driver out but she seemed very unsure so waved with my hand. I only managed a couple of drives but today noticed with the lamps down there is NO flash of the Long range lights by pulling the stalk back!!! With headlights up on main beam, I can pull the stalk and get full beam (also a little click & dash symbol) but as soon as lights go down there is no flash of any sort? I would assume this to be an MOT failure?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Oh also the 30 second light delay does not work? So confused!

Thanks!!

Anthony

Hi Anthony, quite a common fault and almost always the switch in the stalk.

Replacement stalk is your answer...

And yes, it's an MOT fail!

I'll check if I've got a spare stalk if you'd like?

David

Hey David

Thank you so much for coming back to me so quickly!

So you think it's the stalk itself? I thought as the full beam worked it would be okay so appreciate the advice.

I would appreciate it indeed, just let me know if you have one. Funny the MOT history is perfect so trust this to happen in my short ownership!

Very best wishes

Anthony

I know what you mean Anthony, it seems odd it will do one and not the other...

But I've seen it a few times now and that's always been the problem.

I'll check the spare supplies and get back to you as soon as I can

David

Thanks again and MUCH appreciated!

I'll try and give it a check over tomorrow and maybe try giving the stalk a clean well, I might as well try!

Best wishes

Anthony

So it seems I wasn't alone with this, thanks for clarifying this for me, although I feel that it is not a neccesary thing (it hasn't failed me on an MOT yet)

Here is a new one for sale but in Cyprus. Postage from the EU can be very expensive now sadly but it might be worth to ask them if the £3.20 quoted will really get it to the UK. If I needed it I’d be pressing Buy and asking questions later.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144002122945

If you can open yours up and clean, you are a better man than I! It is held together with tubular rivets and there were so many little bits inside when I opened it up that I had no chance of it ever going back together.

It is sadly a quite common fault that they will fail on one of the flash functions. With the pop-ups down, the flash is momentary; with the pop-ups up, the flash latches.

The MOT tester likely won’t check the flash with the pop-ups up AND down but you are on a 50/50 chance to sneak it by I’d say.

If you were really stuck and the flash works with only the pop-ups up then you could lock the lights up (by pulling the fuse) for the MOT maybe so that flash is always available.

Hello everyone,

I now understand that my suspicions were right - I have the exact same problem and was wondering if it was normal or not (on my first car, a Renault 4, you had to switch the high beam on and off, I thought that perhaps this was somehow a variation on the same theme).
I am interested in buying the stalk on eBay... tevred & al, is that ok for you? I will wait until at least Monday, in case you would like to buy it. As I live in Switzerland, the import should be ok (not EU, but 42 GBP should be below our duty threshold).
Please let me know - if you want it it’s definitely yours.
A pleasant evening to all.

Had the same problem but I took my stalk off an then there is a small hole were you can see were the switch mechanism is working.
Two parts that’s makes contact.
Clean the contact surfaces and/ or take a smal strip of sandpaper fine grid and give the lead a touch. Then it’s ok again

Sorry Anthony, I've checked my spares and I can provide plenty of wiper stalks, but there's no indicator stalk there now...

Might be worth contacting jifflemon - I'm not sure if the stalk is still there (or, of course, working!) on the car the Rescue Group is breaking.

Good luck and sorry I can't help,

David

Hey David!

Thank you so much for looking! I took lower cowling off and used contact cleaner but to no avail! There was a tiny flash of the dash light once but that was it. To change it I think I have to remove the steering wheel (?!) as the upper cowling is in the way.

I have another 480 coming for parts so hopefully it has one good stalk on it!

Thanks again for your help i certainly appreciate it.

Best wishes

Anthony J

jimmi480 wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 10, 2021 8:03 pm

Had the same problem but I took my stalk off an then there is a small hole were you can see were the switch mechanism is working.
Two parts that’s makes contact.
Clean the contact surfaces and/ or take a smal strip of sandpaper fine grid and give the lead a touch. Then it’s ok again

Thank you so much! I see exactly what you are talking about so will give it a whirl!

Best wishes

Anthony