S40 tail lights keep blowing

[P156KWJ]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

As for the Transits, the high level brake lights are mounted on the rear doors aren't they? If so, imagine how many times those doors get slammed each day, each slam causing trauma to the filaments...................

They are indeed, and would also explain why number plate lights frequently don't work on them!

[Clan]

Originally Posted by P156KWJ

They are indeed, and would also explain why number plate lights frequently don't work on them!

Volvo have been aware of this for many years and fit the number plate lights on a boot lid or tailgate with heavy duty bulbs ( the ones with a blue blob inside rather than a white one )

[clarkey1984]

Originally Posted by P156KWJ

I also see S/V40s with several tail lights out, annoying as blown bulbs are a pet hate of mine!

Oh my god yes! I don't think I've ever seen another V40 on the road where it hadn't got at least one of the 4 tail bulbs blown, and yes it annoys me too lol.

[Davey240]

Have you tried using LED bulbs? I have found they last a lot longer than the standard ones.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Davey240

Have you tried using LED bulbs? I have found they last a lot longer than the standard ones.

Very true! Don't mess about with cheap ebay stuff though, invest a bit in some decent quality LED bulbs :

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...positive-earth

That may not be the correct bulb you need, one i picked that will fit my older Volvo. Also if yours has CANBus, get the CANBus compatible bulbs instead, If in doubt, use the Freephone number on the site and speak to them - they're knowledgeable and helpful.

[P156KWJ]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Very true! Don't mess about with cheap ebay stuff though, invest a bit in some decent quality LED bulbs :

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...positive-earth

That may not be the correct bulb you need, one i picked that will fit my older Volvo. Also if yours has CANBus, get the CANBus compatible bulbs instead, If in doubt, use the Freephone number on the site and speak to them - they're knowledgeable and helpful.

I'd also considered LED in the past but I'm too much of a purist to change them just out of sake of authenticity.

Do the better quality ones come with inbuilt resistors or do you still need to add resistor packs to them?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by P156KWJ

I'd also considered LED in the past but I'm too much of a purist to change them just out of sake of authenticity.

Do the better quality ones come with inbuilt resistors or do you still need to add resistor packs to them?

Do you mean for indicator bulbs or CANBus in general?

To give you an idea of the improvement of using LEDs, here are a few shots of my old 827 Coupe, first of all on tungsten filament tail lights :



Left side still tungsten, right red LED bulbs :


Note also the door guard/puddle lamp is a bit "pink" - it has a white LED bulb behind it.

Finally, all LED tail lights :



LED brake lights :



.....and LED tail/stop lights together :



Red LEDs will transmit more of the available light through a red lens than a white LED will and won't give the pinkiness observed on the puddle lamp.

[P156KWJ]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Do you mean for indicator bulbs or CANBus in general?

To give you an idea of the improvement of using LEDs, here are a few shots of my old 827 Coupe, first of all on tungsten filament tail lights :



Left side still tungsten, right red LED bulbs :


Note also the door guard/puddle lamp is a bit "pink" - it has a white LED bulb behind it.

Finally, all LED tail lights :



LED brake lights :



.....and LED tail/stop lights together :



Red LEDs will transmit more of the available light through a red lens than a white LED will and won't give the pinkiness observed on the puddle lamp.

That's a very good visual indication, thank you!

As for the resistance, both really, indicator and just general curiosity! When my work had a fleet of Dennis Dart buses that were converted to rear LED units we fitted resistor packs to them to avoid confusion to the onboard systems (they used to keep the telltale bulb on constantly if it detected an abnormality such as a blown bulb). However this was a while ago and now I see they do a lot more in the way of 'fault free' LED units so wondered if these just had resistors built in and were completely 'plug and play'.

On a side note I love Rover 800 series'... used to get a lift from school in one that colour as well!

[Laird Scooby]

Rough rule of thumb then is if you fit LED indicator bulbs, on a 7/940 fit an electronic flasher relay (7/960 models have the flasher relay built into the hazard warning switch) and others you will probably have to fit the big load resistors or find an electronic flasher relay.
I've fitted an electronic flasher relay to my 827 Sterling (saloon, the coupe was sold a couple of years back) and that has improved matters a lot over the extra load resistors.

If your car has CANBus, you'll need CANBus compatible LED bulbs that usually have some resistor built in to fool the system.

[clarkey1984]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Rough rule of thumb then is if you fit LED indicator bulbs, on a 7/940 fit an electronic flasher relay (7/960 models have the flasher relay built into the hazard warning switch) and others you will probably have to fit the big load resistors or find an electronic flasher relay.
I've fitted an electronic flasher relay to my 827 Sterling (saloon, the coupe was sold a couple of years back) and that has improved matters a lot over the extra load resistors.

If your car has CANBus, you'll need CANBus compatible LED bulbs that usually have some resistor built in to fool the system.

Lovely car by the way, Ive not seen one in a good few years, especially not an 827 sterling, memories of Tony pond setting the isle of man average speed record in one back in the 90s.