General: 850: Volvo 850 T-5 Estate- 3rd Brake Light/Boot Light Not Working

[Joseph Martin]

My 1995 850 T-5 GLT Estate has been off the road for two years, after I took it off the road to tackle some repairs and ready it for its MoT. Sadly, my health took a bit of a nosedive and even simple jobs took me forever to do. I am now at the point that I’m looking to get the car up to my mechanic, see what it fails on, and get any faults sorted. It’s paining me to see it deteriorate.

I replaced the tailgate just before I took it off the road as the previous one was rotten. Soon after replacing it, I noticed that the brake light failure bulb stayed on any time the brake pedal was pressed. As it isn’t the bulb in thinking that the wiring loom inside the tailgate is probably knackered. The rear wiper I think works, but the washer doesn’t, and on opening the car tonight I notice that the boot light isn’t working. I haven’t gone as far as looking at the bulb yet and it could be as simple as that, but am I best looking down the route of the tailgate wiring loom for a break in a wire?

The ABS/TRACS lights are on now as well, I’d initially go straight to the module but would the reluctor rings also cause this?

Any advice appreciated.

[Richard_TD]

The washer is likely to be the non-return valve at the base of the washer jet, or possibly an issue with routing of the pipes. Do you hear the pump when you operate it?

If there's a broken wire it will be under the cover on the left hand hinge. Remove that cover and the one on the side window surround (the one that includes the speaker grille) then pull each of the wires in turn. If the conductor is broken the wire will come out. I had two broken- the central locking feed that I'd suspected and the heated rear window that I hadn't even noticed was broken.

[Joseph Martin]

Originally Posted by Richard_TD

The washer is likely to be the non-return valve at the base of the washer jet, or possibly an issue with routing of the pipes. Do you hear the pump when you operate it?

If there's a broken wire it will be under the cover on the left hand hinge. Remove that cover and the one on the side window surround (the one that includes the speaker grille) then pull each of the wires in turn. If the conductor is broken the wire will come out. I had two broken- the central locking feed that I'd suspected and the heated rear window that I hadn't even noticed was broken.

Hi Richard,

Thanks for this. As far as I remember, you cannot hear the pump working when the washer is pressed for the rear window. The central locking was acting up when I initially put a new battery on the car, but I think it’s just a case of the car beginning to ‘wake itself up’ after being stood for so long, as it’s righted itself now with regards to that.

I’I’m sure the heated rear window isn’t working either, funnily enough!

[Luxobarge]

It's unlikely that reluctor rings are causing your ABS light, assuming that the rings are there and intact. Corrosion and/or cracking of the rings is fairly common, but this causes the ABS to come on randomly when you brake, it doesn't put an error light on as the system simply thinks that the wheel is skidding.