Hello all, Thank you for looking at my post. Had a question?? I picked up my grand mothers wrecked 95 850GLT today and was playing with the headlight switch to see if they worked and they dont. When the knob is turned to the center setting the parking light is illuminated in the front and the tail lights illuminate as well. When i try to fully turn on the headlights all lights in the vehicle shut off. Including all dash and and exterior lights i.e. tailights and corner lights. I tested to and the wiring is good and the bulbs are getting power. ANY IDEAS ANYONE?? PLEASE HELP :liebe011:

Well, you did say it was wrecked!

Are you serious in putting the vehicle back on the road - or are your simply having a bit of a play around with it?

This will have a large bearing on any response(s) you get.

Actually for your information i am getting the vehicle to put back on the road. Because its a volvo and its a safe car. It needs minor repairs and i already have all the parts thanks to my local craigslist. So if you have nothing nice to say dont respond plain and simple. The vehicle was owned by my grandmother and has under 43,XXX miles. And she gave it to me for free. How could you pass that up?!?! well obviously you would because you are simply too ignorant and would rather be like the rest of america and finance something else to drive once your vehicle gets wrecked. HOW STUPID no wonder you people are loosing your asses on your houses and stuff. dont hate on everyones stuff. Have a nice day!

WHOA!! CHILL, JACK. the post wasn't about dissing your grannies car. you said it was "wrecked" wrecked, to us, means, like it doesn't drive. be clearer in what you post. for you to log onto to the forum means you need help, so don't go hating before you know who has the info you need. if the car is driveable,then great, please fix it up and enjoy your grandmas car. free is free. if it isn't driveable, like wrecked means, don't go and hurt yourself or others with an unsafe car. and keep your opinions to yourself about the housing and leasing crap, if you really looked, you would notice that the previous poster is NOT IN THE U.S. so please keep your unkind words to yourself. flames will get you booted. got it? if you would like to continue to be a part of this or any other forum, learn to ask what is meant before you get all bent out of shape. we all would enjoy helping you fix your car. so decide yourself, if you can take some criticism, great keep posting. if you are going to go all apesh*t on us with every post, log on to another forum. but with an attitude like that, you won't last long. YOU have a nice day. hope we see you again. if not, drive safe.

Dude. whatever wrecked doesnt mean that the car is not driveable, ive never heard that before. but thats ok. Sorry so that it is clear for everyone the car is driveable and it is safe to be on the road. but thats fine if no one wants to be helpful on the forums except to critisize my vehichle and down it. i didnt post to ask people what they thought of the vehicle i simply asked if anyone had any ideas what the issue might be with the lighting. but thanks. i understand what your saying. if anyone has any suggestions im open. thanks have a great day everyone :57:

ok, better. now, check the switch in the interior. the 850's have a habit of lunching the switches. get one from a junk yard instead of buying new, that way you are certain that it is the switch. if that isn't it, with the hit, it probably messed up the wiring behind the headlight bezel. while at the junkyard, get the whole housing, including the connectors behind the headlights. it shouldn't run more than 20-30 bucks. at most. that way you'll have the wiring and can just splice it in. if that doesn't work , post again and we'll try a more in depth solution.

I gave much thought and consideration about whether to respond to this juvenile outburst.

By way of explanation, in Australia when a vehicle is described as wrecked, it is describing a vehicle that WILL NEVER, EVER, BE REGISTERED AGAIN FOR ROAD USE. As a matter of fact in Australia if you want a used part part from just such a vehicle you go to the "Wreckers" - that is exactly what they are called.

So apparently, the word 'wrecked vehicle' in Australia has a completely different meaning to that in America if you can obtain a wrecked vehicle and then register it for road use again.

Just stop being petulant and trying to impress us all by shooting your mouth off, because it just won't get you anywhere on this forum. Do take the time to look at the number of posts listed alongside a persons name and even you will realise the higher the number is, that person has spent considerable time and effort helping out other Volvo owners like like you and me to solve problems encountered with our Volvo and, what's more, it's a fair bet they are all considerably higher than that number alongside your name (get the picture???).

So, if you prefer to pay big money getting your car repaired at the stealers then you are heading in the right direction because, if you continue to be belligerent just for the sheer hell of it, then other contributors will simply ignore you.

TheGreekMason has summed it up pretty well - so please take some notice of what he says.

He's been around way, way longer than me, so if you think I'm a bit of a dickhead - then please don't take the same liberties with TGM. He's quite capable of chewing you up and spitting you out that fast - your head will be spinning around so quickly you won't know whether your name is Arthur or Martha.

But, I've said enough - hopefully we can get on a little better from now on.

What position was the key at during your testing?

:haha: ok.........some times when you 'smash' a car in the corners like that you crimp wires you dont see... even seen main harnesses burn out due to fender benders. Try what the Mason said, or pay a professional to track down your short :grin: ....but here is my question to you, was it insured, cause most body shops count that in the repairs, that damage looks like it topped the co-payment, and careful buddy, the bag sensors are more than likely trigger happy now. :lol:
And for the record, even you are not rather safe from our nations economy, obviously, your repairing the car off want adds to "save" cost. :clap: Nice idea, but rather harming to the body shop staff that relies on that income to pay the house notes. :thumbsup: The big picture here is the common heart hardness we as Americans have on one another, looking at others rather that looking at your self. If you think for one minute you are better than anyone in this country right now then keep driving your FREE car :lol: . See even you must of realized you need to save money in this time of crisis in our nation. We as a people are suffering over canish self-indulging steriotypical actions resembling that of our lovely prez-I Dont Give A Fart :bwekk: .
Soften your heart dude, before your country ends up like most did with weak leadership. Its up to us as citizens of the United States to do just that, UNITE :grouphug: .
Poverty knows no race, kreed, or place. If our nations largest financial institutions cant survive then how can you look at a lesser man to mop up his problems.
whatever :grin: .... Still here to help YOU all we can.
You are a fellow American. :thumbsup:

I'm thinking that its more along the lines of a short in the wiring from the front impact because reverse lights don't work, and when the switch is turned for just the parking lights to be on, the one pax side comes on and the tail lights also come on. When the switch is moved to the headlight position all lights interior and exterior turn off. everything was working a month before the accident when the vehicle passed the Texas state inspection. But have to go to the jyard to get a couple parts that i over looked i will pick up a switch and see what it does. i can only hope that i would be that easy. thanks :57:

swede brings up a good point, didn't think of the bag sensors, good call swede.

Yup, i am thinking the rather big black headlight switch as well.

It cant be the relays or the fuses, cos once burnt, they are very unlikely to allow current to pass unrectified.

Cheers, dude.
And take things easy, most of us here are quite frriendly.
:grouphug: