Check brake lights

[Wess]

Just noticed when driving, when i press brake pedel a message comes up saying check brake lights. My lights are fine. Has anyone had this and could anyone give me some advice thanks .

[Britsud]

Are all three lit ? Have you got towbar electrics ?

[judgeman]

Hi,

I had this on my MY05 about a month ago. I also had a problem with the drivers side dipped beam going out after a second of ignition being turned on.

When it happened I had just been to the supermarket, and had a slab of cans of Coke. So I pulled over, wedged the slab of cans against the brake pedal, and went round the back.

All looked okay, but after watching for a while I noticed that the high level LED brake light was fine, but the two lower regular bulb brake lights dimmed, then came on bright, dimmed, came on bright...

I had the car booked into the main dealer I'd bought the car from a week later, so I took a short video on my mobile, and showed this to the mechanic when I took the car in. Strangely after that one journey I had no further problem with the brake lights.

Upshot was that my car had suffered from the leaky bulkhead (05 and 06 MY I think I recall suffered this), and moisture had gone down the wiring loom, and into the CEM just above the drivers right foot. They had to replace the CEM as it was shot, and wiring loom etc.

Originally quoted £1090 for the repair! Needless to say I told them they were taking the p***. Told them not good enough, and I had a top spec extended warranty that should cover this - I'd even seen the warranty info advertised at the garage when I took the car in. Said it covered electrics and wiring. The garage told me that the warranty does not cover consequential damage as a result of water ingress!!!! I blasted the garage. They came back a little later with a 'contribution' from Volvo UK and the garage of 30%, due to it being the result of a known fault, and the milage (77,000miles). Told them not good enough, stood my ground. Told them I shouldn't be paying a penny.

A little later another phone call, and a best offer of 40% contribution was on the table. I didn't have the time at work to argue, and it needed to be fixed. The warranty info booklet was in the glovebox of the car so I couldn't check anything. In the end the repair cost me £621. I'm currently doing a year teacher training course, so can ill afford this on top of the student loans!

I really need to push Volvo UK for a bigger refund. Not good enough that it's a known fault, and I bought from a main dealer in the (perhaps naiive) belief that I was getting a quality product. I've owned Volvos for the last 17 years, and this one's putting me off - it had the AWD fault last year (but fortunately covered under warranty, but even then I had to really push like crazy to get the garage to acknowledge this).

I don't want to scare you!! But worth checking this out. What MY is it? Do you have/have you had any other electrical issues?

Chris.

[Sportwag]

Ditto I had this fault along with "Anti Skid" and the CEM was at fault (due to a water leak). Unclip the side panel by the footbrake and stick your hand down the side under the carpet underlay and see if it is wet!

[jtaw45]

I have a 2004 model,is there a simple way of me checking that i don't have any water leaking into the car,the amount of condensation over the last few months is arousing suspision.

[Sportwag]

Originally Posted by jtaw45

is there a simple way of me checking that i don't have any water leaking into the car,the amount of condensation over the last few months is arousing suspision.

To check the driver's side, unclip the carpeted side panel by the footbrake and slip your hand down the side under the carpet underlay and see if it is wet!