[Gotballs]

Hi all i was wondering what this light means!!!! The lil triangle exclamiation point comes on in the middle and on the left lcd screen it says "Bulb Failure Position Light." It turns off sometimes while im driving and sometimes doesnt even turn on at all when my car starts. All of my "lights" seem to be working inside the car and out, and can't for the life of my figure out wut it means. Flipped through the manual too but couldnt find what it ment... I will be calling volvo about it tomarrow but was wondering what you guys had to say about it. I would take it to the dealership but it is a hour and half away each way and i really dont want to make the trip if i dont have to.

Thanks all

Spencer

 

[Spearzy]

Well, in my 850 it means a bulb is burnt out. If it comes on with use of the brake pedal only you know it is a brake light. If you get it with a high beam then a high beam is out. If it is on all the time it is a running light. If mine comes on I just walk around the car and see what one went and replace it and the mirror match or opposite side one as well as it has the same hours on it. If its a brake light typically I'll get my girlfriend to stomp on the pedal a couple of times to see what bulb went. The owner's manual gives you all the bulb #s for each bulb. Since yours seems intermitent that is a bit puzzling. Maybe a bulb is loose somehow?
I thought I had a bulb out once and it turned out to be my rear fog light on! duh

It was the next light over on the dash... oh well.
I'd stop and have a look next time the light comes on.I guess likely you have done that, If they are all fine than maybe it is a glitch?

 

[Gotballs]

Been there, done all that. Took to the my gas station were i work and had one of the lube tecs help me look at ALL the bulbs. The thing is i have had a brake light out and it is a different alert, and I do think that the Warning light was red, instead of the amber color ! that i get now..

Thanks for input...

Spencer

 

[GrecianVolvo]

quote:

Originally posted by Gotballs:
Hi all i was wondering what this light means!!!! The lil triangle exclamiation point comes on in the middle and on the left lcd screen it says "Bulb Failure Position Light." It turns off sometimes while im driving and sometimes doesnt even turn on at all when my car starts. All of my "lights" seem to be working inside the car and out, and can't for the life of my figure out wut it means. Flipped through the manual too but couldnt find what it ment... I will be calling volvo about it tomarrow but was wondering what you guys had to say about it. I would take it to the dealership but it is a hour and half away each way and i really dont want to make the trip if i dont have to.

Thanks all

Spencer

I had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago. It was the right (in my case) lightbulb in the tail light, the one that lights up when the car is running since the daytime running lights are on. It is very hard to notice as there are TWO sets of lights in each vertical tail light. It is the lightbulb right above the middle.

Yannis

 

[Potter17]

quote:

Originally posted by Gotballs:
Hi all i was wondering what this light means!!!! Spencer

In Dutch is it is called Parking Light. I have had this message a couple of times as well, it always dissappears after a while (especially when driving over a bump) so I guess it is a slightly loose connection somewhere.

It seems like a common problem (see vvspy for example)

 

[beyoung00]

Re: (Potter17)

Bulb Failure Position Light message in my case flickers on and off usually for the first 5 minutes of driving then stops. I get the amber triangle! light as well.
So is the concenus that it is a bad bulb or a bad connection? I don't want to have to go all the way to the dealer if I can avoid it!

It is a 2001 S60.

 

[GrecianVolvo]

Re: (beyoung00)

Quote, originally posted by beyoung00 »

Bulb Failure Position Light message in my case flickers on and off usually for the first 5 minutes of driving then stops. I get the amber triangle! light as well. So is the concenus that it is a bad bulb or a bad connection? I don't want to have to go all the way to the dealer if I can avoid it! It is a 2001 S60.

Most likely, the bulb has loosened up. The same thing happened to me on the right side.

Yannis

 

[mrk130]

Re: (beyoung00)

Quote, originally posted by beyoung00 »

Bulb Failure Position Light message in my case flickers on and off usually for the first 5 minutes of driving then stops. I get the amber triangle! light as well. So is the concenus that it is a bad bulb or a bad connection? I don't want to have to go all the way to the dealer if I can avoid it! It is a 2001 S60.

id bet any amount of money it is a bad bulb. of all the hundreds of bulb failure displays i have had, only one or 2 was a bad connection.
the reason its on and off is because the filament is touching then its not touching. eventually it will be out constantly.

 

[beyoung00]

Re: (mrk130)

Yes. It was a bad bulb! Problem solved. Thanks for your help.

 

[digital_dreamer]

Re: (beyoung00)

The Bulb Failure Warning light circuit (it's actually a coil surrounding a reed switch) is based on the amount of current a particular bulb draws. The bulb needs to draw at least the designed amount of current to keep the "Failure" light off.

If the bulb is a particular brand, say some "high-efficiency" bulb, that draws less current for the equivalent output intensity, that may not be enough current to trigger the reed switch in the failure circuit.
This situation can also present itself when the bulb connections (i.e. solder balls on the base) become corroded and fail to create a solid electrical connection (less current draw).

regards,
MAJ

 

[schweizerdp]

Re: BFPL error code (systemic problem?)

I have had a problem with this myself. I had the dealer replace the bulb (at $5!! They said it didn't meet the warranty "threshhold", so I had to pay cash). Then less than two weeks later, I go the same message. I ignored it for a week, then it went away for a few days. It came back on and stayed for a month, so I finally checked it out. It was inded the exact same bulb. I am a little concerned, since I think having the same bulb go out twice in three weeks on a brand-new car is a little suspicious. Has anyone else had this problem? My service center offered to scan the wiring harness and see if there is a short, but I haven't had time to take it in yet.

Thanks,

 

[Warpedcow]

Re: BFPL error code (schweizerdp)

Quote, originally posted by schweizerdp »

I have had a problem with this myself. I had the dealer replace the bulb (at $5!! They said it didn't meet the warranty "threshhold", so I had to pay cash). Then less than two weeks later, I go the same message. I ignored it for a week, then it went away for a few days. It came back on and stayed for a month, so I finally checked it out. It was inded the exact same bulb. I am a little concerned, since I think having the same bulb go out twice in three weeks on a brand-new car is a little suspicious. Has anyone else had this problem? My service center offered to scan the wiring harness and see if there is a short, but I haven't had time to take it in yet.

Have them replace the harness, I was getting the position light failure message every few weeks - if I got out of the car and gave the taillight a firm WHACK with my hand, the bulb would come back on, and the message would go away. This got fixed with a new harness, under warranty.

 

[schweizerdp]

Re: BFPL error code (Warpedcow)

Thanks for the tip. I will give it one more shot, on the off chance that I got a couple of bad bulbs in a row, then I will probably have them hit the harness.

Do you remember how long the car was out for that? It seems to me that replacing a wiring harness is not a small job, but I've never seen it done on a car so I am not sure.

Thanks again,

 

[LTA]

Re: (Gotballs)

Gotballs,

This is a very common problem in the S60. Happens to mine all the time. You need to remove the tail light from inside your trunk. You will see there are TWO (yes, 2) position light bulbs. If only one is burned out you'll get the warning but you'll think it's fine from the outside since the unburnt bulb makes you think nothing is burnt out. Open it up and you'll see what I mean.

If you don't have a burnt positon bulb you have a loose one. Remove and re-seat all four position light bulbs (yes, 4, that is 2 on each side in the back). See if that does it.

Mine on the rear left seems to loosen up every other month or so, sometime I just hit the red light cover outside with my palm and it turns back on (or sometimes a really bumpy road turn it off and then back on).

good luck

field172.

 

[Warpedcow]

Re: BFPL error code (schweizerdp)

Quote, originally posted by schweizerdp »

Do you remember how long the car was out for that? It seems to me that replacing a wiring harness is not a small job, but I've never seen it done on a car so I am not sure.

Shouldn't be too bad, my car has never been in the shop for more than one day at a time. I probably combined the harness fix with the 45K service or something like that...

 

[marriedguy1]

I had this problem on my 01 S60 and it was the socket that the front right bulb plugged into. The dealer kept the car for 2 days and couldn't figure it out. They replaced the turn signal stalk and I still had the problem. There are 3 prongs where the socket meets the wiring harness and 1 of them was broken. I paid $8 for a bulb and socket from the dealer and fixed it myself.

 

[kneel]

Hi! mine is giving me this message and it was the left-front running lamp, however, the weird thing is, the running light looks to be the same lamp as the turn-signal blinker. However the blinker works on the left but not when its being lit as a running light. Also its easy to find headlights and taillight replacements but finding these other lamps is difficult!