Volvo 480 Club Europe

That the best way to prevent leaks is to seal the rear lights in.


Had a call from my brother on Saturday, He had found a 480 in a salvage yard. Perfect rear clusters but had been sealed in.
Sent me a picture, I said to get at any cost, even if it meant cutting the rear end metal out.
As he was leaving to go home to get Stanley knives, plastic pry tools and a hack saw, he enquired on the price. £10 each!
He returned to find the yard had decided to help him by removing them.....

I’m sure you know how the story ends.

Sealing lights in means it’s next to impossible to remove without damaging them. I’d argue it’s not even a fix for leaks.

Aw nooooo

Your are right Jeff - we need to stop this happening!!

David

Ok, not wanting to add to the suffering of others, but sealing must stop at least some water?

timrosser wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:31 pm

Ok, not wanting to add to the suffering of others, but sealing must stop at least some water?

It depends how you seal. £30 spent with Joep will get you new light seals. That will stop any leak coming in from the lights (although I'd argue very few leaks originate from the lights!).

Those seals will also mean you can remove the lights should you ever need to.

And just to add insult to injury....

Brother went back today armed with his big brothers shopping list of parts. They’ve only gone and cubed it!

“Everything breaks when you try and remove stuff, so there’s no value in these old cars....”

Everything breaks if your ham fisted moron whose only tools are a hammer!

I sealed our rear lights with sealed cell foam cut to shape. Not a perfect fit as making the template was tricky, but you can't see it anyway now it's in.

But, and here’s the important bit, you can still easily remove your lights right?

Imagine you get a small dent in the rear panel; easily fixed, just pop the lights out and a decent pdr man could get it out.

Only your rear lights are sealed in, and in trying to remove those lights, they break the brittle plastic outer lens and now your car is a write off cos the cost of lights exceeds the value of the car...

jifflemon wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:24 pm

And just to add insult to injury....

Brother went back today armed with his big brothers shopping list of parts. They’ve only gone and cubed it!

“Everything breaks when you try and remove stuff, so there’s no value in these old cars....”

Everything breaks if your ham fisted moron whose only tools are a hammer!

Nooooo…..

You are quite right about the lights, too. Make new seals in some way for them, but don't take to the sealant gun; previously I have made up seals using butyl tape which have been successful, and as this thread shows there are other options, but the key thing is to keep the lights removable if need be.

Ho hum!

David

guilty of grabbing the sealant, but in defence it was just a strip of the black rubbery stuff (for sealing gutters ! ) along the top edge to 'encourage' the water to exit left or right and not sit on the seals, could probably easily be cut through if had to . .. . .

Alan 480 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:47 pm

guilty of grabbing the sealant, but in defence it was just a strip of the black rubbery stuff (for sealing gutters ! ) along the top edge to 'encourage' the water to exit left or right and not sit on the seals, could probably easily be cut through if had to . .. . .

Let you off then... honestly, you want to see the rear lights on the red Celebration; quite neatly done but so heavily sealed in I don't think they're going anywhere, ever! And the boot still isn't entirely watertight, although I am working on it...

David

David, have you tried changing the rear hatch seal for a 440/460 one? We changed all 4 of ours as well as making new rear light seals and now have 4 dry boots.

Ohh, Sylvia 440/460 has a different hatch seal? I think someone suggested a fiat tipo seal too?

The 440/460 hatch seal has an extra lip which the 480 seal doesn't have.

Top tip!!!! Thanks Sylvia

Now Im really happy that the seller of my latest 480 told me that the rear lights needed to be sealed since they hadn't done that when they were replaced. So hopefully they should be easy to remove.
I bought the car more or less for the rear light to put on my nicest 480.