Rear lights not working on one side

[Snoodini]

Hi,

This happened about a month ago then went away. Today it is back and doesn't seem to want to go away. I have a V90

The rear left position light is not working. There are two elements to the light, the part mounted to the body and the part mounted to the boot lid. Neither are illuminated. The brake, reverse and indicator light works.

If I open the boot from a locked state then the position light does flash on for a moment before turning off.

Because of this flash I have thought it could be software related so I have tried to reboot the car by disconnecting the battery for about a minute then re-connecting but that has not solved it.

Has anyone else had this before?

[Boatie]

I know it's not fashionable to say so but what about going back to the old ways and giving the connectors a wiggle.

[Whyman]

Always worked on the basic idea that if I could not find a fault take it to bits, give it a good clean, put it back together and see if it now works!

[Snoodini]

Originally Posted by Boatie

I know it's not fashionable to say so but what about going back to the old ways and giving the connectors a wiggle.

I did remove and replace the connector into the light module. Luckily, being the left it is easily accessible from the battery compartment.

Unfortunately this did not resolve the issue, but I didn't expect it to as this was only the light on the body, but in my case both the body mounted and the boot lid mounted lights are behaving the same.

Does anyone know if there is another connector somewhere else that carries power both parts?

[Snoodini]

Some follow-up, perhaps this is useful if someone searches for this in the future.

I went to the workshop today to book the car in. As soon as I mentioned the fault the technician nodded knowingly. Apparently he has seen this a number of times and it's always been due to water getting into the light cluster. The reason that the main light and the extra on the boot lid both go off is that the car detects the fault and shuts off the light (my educated guess being that the current consumption is out of spec due to the water ingress and it takes action to prevent damage).

I asked if Volvo can contribute to the cost (car is out of the 2 year warranty) and he suggested that they almost certainly would as it is a known issue. Then comes the interesting part (for me at least). He used a tool there and then to determine if Volvo would cover it. It's called the Global Goodwill Calculator, with this he enters the part and fault, confirms a few things like if there is external damage and if the car has been regularly serviced, and it spits out a % that Volvo will contribute to the repair (in my case 100%).

So, anyway, the car is booked in 2 weeks from now, he has already ordered the parts despite not looking at the car at all (My wife has it at work).

Hopefully it's that simple and that will be that.

[BWT]

Snoodini
That's interesting to know both my rear lamps have a large amount of condensation in them so i am off back to the dealer too see about getting them replaced.

Thanks for the heads up

Beetee

[ArturVolvo S602016]

Originally Posted by Snoodini

Some follow-up, perhaps this is useful if someone searches for this in the future.

I went to the workshop today to book the car in. As soon as I mentioned the fault the technician nodded knowingly. Apparently he has seen this a number of times and it's always been due to water getting into the light cluster. The reason that the main light and the extra on the boot lid both go off is that the car detects the fault and shuts off the light (my educated guess being that the current consumption is out of spec due to the water ingress and it takes action to prevent damage).

I asked if Volvo can contribute to the cost (car is out of the 2 year warranty) and he suggested that they almost certainly would as it is a known issue. Then comes the interesting part (for me at least). He used a tool there and then to determine if Volvo would cover it. It's called the Global Goodwill Calculator, with this he enters the part and fault, confirms a few things like if there is external damage and if the car has been regularly serviced, and it spits out a % that Volvo will contribute to the repair (in my case 100%).

So, anyway, the car is booked in 2 weeks from now, he has already ordered the parts despite not looking at the car at all (My wife has it at work).

Hopefully it's that simple and that will be that.

Hi Snoodini. I am glad your problem was solved.
Would you be able to tell me what part had to be changed to allow the tail light to work again?
Was it a relay or some kind of fuse or basically a software reset?
And how much was the actual invoice for the repair? Thanks in advance.

[60041]

Very interesting; I had this problem on my car last year, but it resolved itself after a week or so, before I had time to investigate further. The problem has returned a couple of times since, but only for a day or so. I had made the connection with heavy rain.
Time for a call to the dealer, I think!