I have a 1990 Volvo 240 wagon. The brake lights stoppedworking. I checked the fuse, the brake switch, and the lights themselves - all good. There is power going to the brake switch and when the pedal is depressed there is power going through. Does anyone have an ideawhere should I look next?

Thanks

 

Check the wiring harness running through the tailgate. The wires are known to get brittle and break where they run under the hinges.

Best of luck.

 

I would check the bulb failure warning sensor.

The only brake light wire that goes through the tailgate hinge is for the 3rd brake light.

 

Thanks. Any idea where I might find this sensor and what it looks like? I have been trying to trace the wires following the brake light switch - not much I can see...

I replaced the wires through the tailgate about 2 years ago - I suppose its possible one could break, but I don't see how it would prevent all the brake lights from working. If it was a short, I would expect the fuse to go and its fine.

Thanks again - I am getting challenged on this one!

 

The BFWS is a fat orange cylindrical sensor.

Go to fcpgroton and search for 1362370, $55.

It's under the driver's side dash.




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Blue Goose Thanks very much. I have brake light power to the BFWS when the pedal is down, but I am not sure how to measure if the BFWSis the problem - I'm not sure which connections I could try to by-pass. I guess I should just get a new one.

Thanks again for your help. I live in a rural area and there are no Volvo guys out here.

 

According to the Volvo green book, the wire from the brake switch should be blue-red and it goes to pin 9 of the BFWS. Yellow wires come out of pins 10 and 11 and they go to the brake lights. The center brake light comes out of pin 5 with a blue wire. However, sometimes the wiring colors are known to be different.

I hate to spend $55 unless I needed a new one for sure. No junk yards in your area? Whenever I hit the local junk yard I try and pick up assorted relays as spares. Or you could pop the cover off and look for poor solder connections. On the other hand, it wouldn't hurt to put in a new BFWS. I replaced my fuel pump relay, although the old one was good. Just on general principles. Relays tend to go bad after 10-20 years.

Post back.

 

Blue Goose, Thanks again for your post. There is a guy that has some junked Volvo's, but he is a 3 h drive away, so I placed an order with FCP Groton. Ihadtraced the blue-red wire from the brake switch to the relay - I will check tonight if there is power getting through.

Your information ismost helpful.

Good idea about the fuel pump relay - hate to get stuck someday.

Thanks again.

I am the original owner of a 1990 240 Wagon - manual shift (~ 400Kms). The car continues to amaze me with its quality.

 

Blue Goose - I tested the BFWS tonight and when the brake pedal is depressed there is juice getting through from the BR wire to the yellows. I also took the BFWS apart and inspected it and it looked like new inside - no sign of any solder issues. You indicated the yellow wires go to the brake light, but there is a white wire at the brake light. Somewhere the power is getting disrupted - any ideas where I should check next.


At this point I am thinking of running a new wire back...

Any help you can provide is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Did you try cleaning the contacts on the tail lights themselves? One of my tail lights was broken, and the other stopped working while I was driving from Texas to Ohio...(not good at night) and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. I sprayed contact cleaner on all of the connections at the tail light, and haven't had any problems since. It's definitely cheaper than $55...

Wes

 

Thanks. Yes I cleaned the contacts, checked the bulbs, tested the continuity at the back. I have tested and there is no power going into the brake lights (all three) at the back (its a wagon).There is powerwhen the brake pedal is depressed (and none when it isn't) at the brake light switch and at the yellow wires leaving the bulb failure warning sensor. So somewhere between the bfws and the brake lights I seem to have a problem - broken wire?

I wish I had access to a wiring diagram that I could read. The brake wires leaving the bfws are yellow, yet the ones going to the brake light are white - somewhere there must be a connection. I will have another go at this tonight.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

 

Well heres the problem ina nutshell, I turn on the lights on my 240 and the brake lights go on but don't function when the pedal is depressed but the center light works, I INSPECTED THE FOLLOWING:wires, bulbs, fuses,voltage,brake pedal switch, this has just started happening as of 2 months ago. very annoying problem but only happpen when I use the driving lights , when they are off the function as they should this is now my daytime driving car HELP!!!

 

Hi there,
Have you gotten any response on what this issue could be? I have an 89 240 wagon and just went out to move my car and found the brake lights stopped working too. They worked this morning on the way to work so I'm not sure what could have happened between then and now.
Thanks,
Jes

 

It's possible that the 3rd light is part of a circuit, and if a wire is broken that goes to that, it may affect the whole system. Also, I don't know if you looked at this or not, but there is a switch underneath the handbrake (that is pressed down by the handbrake when you release it) but I doubt this would be the problem - all this does is turn off the brake lights when you release the handbrake.

 

I've done many repairs on family volvos over the years starting with the cheapest fix first. Just fixed my moms brake lights by cleaning brake lights connectors at the tail lights. Just remove plastic cover behind each light harness, locate white rectangle plug. I found corrosion and rust. Cleaned that up, added some bulb grease to the connections and they're back to working just fine. LOVE these cars!!