How do you turn ON DRL on a 1997 940?

[black t top]

OK, so I've searched and searched and can't find any threads that cover this.

Basically on our recent purchase (a blackberry pearl 1997 940 estate to with our blue 1998 940 estate) there are no daytime running lights (DRL's).

I've tried the obvious 2 things, the headlight switch and the relay....I've swapped them out from our Blue car (which has working DRL's) into the new car, but still, no DRL's. I've gone over the wiring and can't see any obviously cut or messed with wires. The headlight assemblies and bulbs are the same on both cars too.......so is there some other way that they would have been turned off, if so, I want to put them back ON again!

Bit of car info:

It's a 1997 2.3 manual M90 Turbo. It was originally sold in Germany, to an army sergeant stationed there, then shipped back to the UK a year later when he came home, has every option going (inc cup holders) and every receipts from new, bill of sale ect. It is RHD.

Car started, light switch set to OFF (\).....front sidelights (small ones above the indicators) illuminate, dash illuminates, rear lights illuminate.

Car started, light switch set to PARKING LIGHTS (|).....same as above, no change.

Car started, light switch set to HEADLIGHTS (/).....headlights come on dipped beam as they should and operate as normal, parking lights above indicators stay illuminated as they should.

Anybody got any suggestions??

[capt jack]

I believe that it goes something like this:

Day running lights were originally introduced on the Volvo 240 in the late 1970s, and were the two big white lamps at the upper outer edge of the front cluster, plus the regular red rear lamps.

Early 740 cars (including my 1986 744GL) had the same set up.

In the early 1990s the concept of Dim-Dip DRLs were introduced, which were basically as per the original but with half-power dipped headlights and half-power white marker lights at the front.

If I remember correctly Dim-Dip fell foul of EU regulations, and, because the technology of the day was a bit crude, they tended to destroy headlamp bulbs at a rate of knots. I had a 1992 944 GLE, and I'm certain that it did have Dim-Dip lights.

Through the late 1990s and into the early noughties there were different rules in different countries about daytime lighting. I've had 4 phase 1 x70 cars - three V70 and an S70, and all had DRLs. All had little selector switches built into the the main light switch, and came with detailed instructions for different setting for different territories.

At a guess, I'd say that your car is probably one that falls somewhere between DRLs and Dim-Dip, with a dash of confused and confusing EU vs UK regulations and the limited lighting technology of the day thrown in for good measure.

Cheers

Jack

[bob12]

I would have though (excepting any EU considerations) that you don't have DRL's. They were done away with the end of the 740 run ... at least my 1990 745 GL only has dim-dip. Have you got dim-dip? If so I reckon there ain't DRL's.

[ThePurplePanther]

Imagine Cpt Jack has probably got it.

I've had two UK 940's (both 1997) and both had DLR's.

Would be interesting to know if Uk ones had somehting extra to make them work or EU ones had something removed to stop them..

[Laird Scooby]

Jack and Bob are the closest without digging into exact dates which i can't remember. I know the UK Dim-Dip system came in in 1986 (poss 87), early 740s had a 21/5W bulb in the front marker light, the 21W filament served duty as the day running light bulb until the lights were switched on at which point the sidelights came on using the 5W filaments.
On later cars (including my 1988 facelift 760 but not 740s of the same year until facelift i believe) the separate 21W filament was deleted leaving just the 5W bulb as the sidelights. Up to and if memory serves, 1992 the dim-dip functioned with the DRLs and sidelights.
On the facelift pre-92 cars with just the 5W bulbs, dim-dip formed part of the DRL set up, reducing the need for a "brighter" sidelight bulb to perform DRL duty.
As Jack says, the EU outlawed the UKs Dim-Dip system (mainly because the Europeans found it too costly to be safe) and on most cars this was deleted except certain makes, Volvo being one of them that continued with dim-dip when the sidelights and ignition were both on. As the sidelights were by that point part of the DRL circuit (DRLs have been a legal requirement in Sweden for decades) the dim-dip system seemed to remain on Volvos of all years although the sidelights were simple 5W bulbs on later cars.

In other words, the OPs car seems to be par for the course for the year.

[Steve940estate]

I thought all 940s had dipped headlamps when the ignition was switched on. My 94 car has a relay on the drivers a post just above the bonnet release lever. On my model at least if you remove it the headlamps only come on when you use the light switch. It doesn't turn off the side lights as these are wired separately.
I know later cars had revised wiring so it's quite likely things changed since mine was built.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by black t top

Car started, light switch set to OFF (\).....front sidelights (small ones above the indicators) illuminate, dash illuminates, rear lights illuminate.

Car started, light switch set to PARKING LIGHTS (|).....same as above, no change.

Car started, light switch set to HEADLIGHTS (/).....headlights come on dipped beam as they should and operate as normal, parking lights above indicators stay illuminated as they should.

Anybody got any suggestions??

Your DRLs ARE WORKING!!! There's no separate DRL filaments on later cars, just a sidelight bulb. It's possible you either don't have dim-dip or if so, it's not working but the DRLs are working.

[Rversteeg]

On my Benelux / Nordic spec 940 I have removed fuse 25. I never touch the light switch and leave it in position 2 all the time, even when the ignition is off. When I turn off the ignition all lighting is automatically switched off too. During cranking most power consumers (like the headlights) are also switched off automatically to spare the battery.
I am not sure if it works on your cars as well, but on all the volvo's I have driven there was no need to ever touch the light switch!

[black t top]

OK......all the DRL stuff is present and correct and as Laird Scooby said the DRLs are working......is there a definitive way to know if the car had Dim Dip or not, like a module or something?

As Scooby said, it either didn't have Dim Dip or it isn't working.

(sorry for confusing things by previously referring to everything as DRL lol)

[Laird Scooby]

I recently had computer problems and lost a lot of my sources of reference, i'll have a go at trying to find the one where i could look this up but i believe there is a dim-dip relay in the fusebox under the ashtray, often they were a bright colour to show they weren't just the "average" relay - Fords of the time had a pink one for example but the intermittent wipe relay is pink in Volvos.

If i do manage to find the relevant source again, which Volvo am i looking for?

No worries on the dim-dip/DRL confusion, pretty understandable really. When dim-dip became law back in 1987, not much was said. It was only really people "in the know" that got to hear anything about it, most people didn't even know the law had changed or anything else.

Fast-forward to 2010 or thereabouts when they announced they were changing the law so all new cars from 2011 (another slightly grey area - existing models didn't have to but new models from 2011 did) had to have LED DRLs, it was all over the news, the internet (which was only a figment of our imagination back in 1987), the papers and so on and car dealers were making a big thing of this "new" safety feature!

Considering Volvos (and Saabs) had DRLs for decades beforehand thanks to Swedish law, then it took us a fair while to catch up although we did try with dim-dip which was a slightly different thing. The DRLs were automatic in their operation, dim-dip responded to the sidelights being switched on with the engine running.