I was just going over this 1985 240 wagon I bought and there are a couple of things different than my 1987 740.
1- There is a light switch, looks like a fog light switch to the left of the dash. When on, this turns on lights on the rear assembly, red, at the top- like top brake lights. There are no forward fog lights. What are these red lights?
2- Is there no light on the gear shift assembly on the floor? At night I can't see the gears light up on this and didn't know if there was supposed to be light.
Yes, the switch you mention is for *A* rear fog light (bright red light on the left side only in US spec and the right side only in UK spec cars. SOME owners have added the wiring to make BOTH lights go on when you hit this switch. Tends to mellow out tailgaters when you activate it at night in front of them.
As for the dome light door activation, check to make sure the dome light is in the "door activate" position and then check ALL doors. I suspect you will find that only the driver's side switch has been fatigued from all the years of opening and closing. That switch isn't all that costly (judging from my 240 experience) but it's still kind of pricey for what it is. You MIGHT want to go to a pick-a-part and pull the switch from a passenger's side door to replace that in your driver's side door (same switch AFAIR). Probably cost $2 plus your time to pull it.
Now, if you find NO doors activate the dome light when it's in the proper position, go to the pick-a-part and get a new dome light assembly. Maybe $10 plus your time.
It varies by year. Some cars came with two rear fogs, some had only one. I know my mom's '86 240 and my '87 740 have two rear fogs from the factory. My '84 240 doesn't have any at all.
Yeah, Volvo's not alone on this; a lot of the European cars have the rear "fog light"(s). Like people said, used to be on both sides, but apparently that made it harder to determine the brake lights coming on, so the manufacturers switched to just one side. Oddly, most Volvo owners seem to have forgotten they are there and never use them, while I'm trying to figure out how to add something similar to my Honda......
Well, ya live and learn. Better than the alternative in both cases. I never owned one in the fog light era prior to '93. Everything I had up 'til then lacked that feature. Thanks for the info.
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