Don't always assume it's blown⌠| Haynesâ World is a regular feature that takes a look at what the staff at Haynes are doing with their vehicles. This time, Nigelâs usually reliable Volvo V70 has been suffering from bulb trouble. | | | Car: Volvo V70 2.4 T5
Owner: Nigel Donnelly, Digital Product Manager, AutoFix/DIY | |  | Iâve been running a 2001 Volvo V70 2.4 for three years now, and it has honestly been one of the most trustworthy and comfortable vehicles I have ever owned.
I love its relative simplicity but among the few odd foibles it does have is a hunger for halogen lightbulbs. As a Volvo, it has daytime running lights in the form of permanently illuminated dipped beams at the front and always-on tail lights.
As a result, it gets through bulbs quite regularly and there has been a persistent but intermittent warning on the dash of late, telling me a dipped beam bulb was out. | | The offside front bulb was to blame, and I initially thought it had blown, but I also noticed there was a lot of movement at the back of the bulb, where the terminals were attached. I started the car again and moving the terminal brought the bulb back to life, so I suspected a loose or dirty connection.
I cleaned the terminals, gave them a squirt of WD40, pinched the female spade terminals a touch to ensure a snug fit, dried them off and then put everything back together. All the lights were on and I packed up and headed indoors, presuming Iâd done enough. | | The next day, I jumped in the car and was met with the familiar orange warning triangle on the dash and the message about a dipped beam failure.
I removed the dust cover from the rear of the headlamp, touched the rear of the bulb and it lit up again. It needed a closer look. Access to the rear of the offside headlamp in a V70 is a little snug, but a quick prod about revealed no chafed cables, loose grounding or any other culprit.
With nothing obviously amiss, I decided to get a second opinion, stealing part of my learned colleague Martynn Randallâs lunch hour to get a second pair of eyes on things. | | | We want to see how you got on, and how you dealt with any âissuesâ when working on your car or bike. If you used your Haynes manual in the course of your repair or maintenance, all the better.
Simply reply to this email with the following details: - Your name
- The county/region you live in
- The vehicle youâre working on and the nature of the repair
Weâll be in touch to discuss photos (a general shot of your vehicle plus two or three close-ups of your work would be ideal) and your project could end up being featured at Haynes.com and on our social media channels (see below).
Need to contact us about something else, such as an order? Check out this page. | | | | | | |  |
