Headlight / High Beam

Howdy all,

I am having an issue on my 1992 Volvo 240 Wagon where the high beams will not turn off and initiate low beam mode. I have previously replaced the fender hi/lo relay, as well as the in-dash headlight relay, except my high beams still will not turn off when I pull the signal stalk towards me. I have had this issue in a previous car where I broke the actual stalk, so I also have replaced the stalk, which to my surprise, did not fix the issue. I am not sure if this replacement stalk actually has the pull switch that works, so I came here to ask if there are any other places that may jump out to you lot that I have missed.

What I have already done:
Fender hi/lo relay
In-dash relay
Turn signal stalk (may not have a working switch, not sure if e-bay seller tested it or not)
Tested all fuse continuity and replaced fuses that did not have continuity.

When I pull out the in dash relay, the headlights won't turn on (obviously) so I know that my in dash fuse is good. I will probably pull out the fender relay and test that with a multimeter, but I highly doubt that is it. Any help and guidance is appreciated, and I hope that I included enough information.

-Seth.

Bulb Failure Sensor (in Blue Circle) is used for low beams: See diagram here.

Disregard that squiggled line...European version in 1993 with daytime headlights on. 1993 Diagram, but similar to yours.

Bulb Failure Sensor gets power via Step Relay....circled in black with Step written.

So, Bulb Failure Sensor or signal stalk has shot craps...if power circuits are good.


At Step Relay, the BRN wire just sends a ground via signal stalk...just a quick ground signal...1986 and 1993 wiring diagrams show the same thing...Signal stalk supplies a ground to Step Relay to change from high to low, or low to high.

Bulb Failure Sensor do fail

84B23F said:

Bulb Failure Sensor (in Blue Circle) is used for low beams: See diagram here.

Disregard that squiggled line...European version in 1993 with daytime headlights on. 1993 Diagram, but similar to yours.

Bulb Failure Sensor gets power via Step Relay....circled in black with Step written.

So, Bulb Failure Sensor or signal stalk has shot craps...if power circuits are good.


At Step Relay, the BRN wire just sends a ground via signal stalk...just a quick ground signal...1986 and 1993 wiring diagrams show the same thing...Signal stalk supplies a ground to Step Relay to change from high to low, or low to high.

Bulb Failure Sensor do fail

Click to expand...

Thank you very much! Will snag this. Makes a lot of sense.

skurela said:

Thank you very much! Will snag this. Makes a lot of sense.

Click to expand...

Little of that made sense to me.

Do this. touch a grounded wire to pin 31b on the step relay. If it switches between high and low, that's the problem. The lever is not sending the ground signal.
Dave

dbarton said:

Little of that made sense to me.

Do this. touch a grounded wire to pin 31b on the step relay. If it switches between high and low, that's the problem. The lever is not sending the ground signal.
Dave

Click to expand...

Thank you very much Dave, grounded Pin 31b, and sure enough, switched from high and low. Will be seeking an ebay refund...

Before you do that make sure the steering column ground wire is tight. It's under the cowl behind the steering wheel.

hiperfauto said:

Before you do that make sure the steering column ground wire is tight. It's under the cowl behind the steering wheel.

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Ran out to go check it, screw wasn't loose & was tight. Just for s&g I took it off, cleaned it, and threw it back on. Still nothing. When the turn signal stalk started going, it would only occasionally turn the hi/lo's..

Check the other end of that ground wire - it goes to the tunnel, to the left of the shifter.


It's also the wire that causes horny wiper syndrome on wagons - honk the horn and the rear wiper cycles once.

One more check: with key off, if you pull back on the stalk, does it flash the brights? This uses slightly different wiring than the normal high beams.

bobxyz said:

Check the other end of that ground wire - it goes to the tunnel, to the left of the shifter.


It's also the wire that causes horny wiper syndrome on wagons - honk the horn and the rear wiper cycles once.

One more check: with key off, if you pull back on the stalk, does it flash the brights? This uses slightly different wiring than the normal high beams.

Click to expand...

No dice on the key-off pull back, and tunnel ground is also clean & secured.

The last stuff to check is that grounding the brown turn stalk wire switches the lights, and that stalk black wire connects to column ground.

bobxyz said:

The last stuff to check is that grounding the brown turn stalk wire switches the lights, and that stalk black wire connects to column ground.

Click to expand...

I think I grounded it? I touched the stalk brown wire to the black ground, however nothing happened. Also, I do not have a stalk black. Can someone idiot check me, sorry. I don't have any alligator clips to make it easy for me to run a wire long enough from the brown cable to the negative terminal for me to see if that does anything.

Sorry, I misread the diagram. I thought that there was a short black ground wire. Instead, clamping the stalk to the column must ground it.

Your picture of grounding the brown wire is fine but I'm surprised it didn't switch the relay. That brown wire goes to 31b on the step relay, which you said was working when grounded. I'd see if you can follow both ends of the brown wire under the dash and from the hi/lo relay to the bulkhead to see if it's damaged somewhere.

bobxyz said:

Sorry, I misread the diagram. I thought that there was a short black ground wire. Instead, clamping the stalk to the column must ground it.

Your picture of grounding the brown wire is fine but I'm surprised it didn't switch the relay. That brown wire goes to 31b on the step relay, which you said was working when grounded. I'd see if you can follow both ends of the brown wire under the dash and from the hi/lo relay to the bulkhead to see if it's damaged somewhere.

Click to expand...

I'll grab some alligator clips or rig something up so I can ground it somewhere else too, just for peace of mind. Will do a continuity test on the stalk-to-tunnel ground as well. Thank you for your help, I very much appreciate it.

1993 240 diagram shows stalk's ground wire goes to left side of tunnel, as bobxyz posted in post #8. If a grounded wire touches Brown wire at stalk, this should send a ground to the step relay.

With Step Relay removed, a test light could touch terminal 31b while someone flips the stalk....so 31b is a ground when stalk is flipped, and test light is powered via battery power for this test.