XC turn signal fixed !!

[jmoser]

Like many my right front blinker was flaky due to the poor socket design. [01 XC.] Bulb was 100% fine but the connectors arced and gave 'turn signal bulb failure' error message.

Last year [or maybe 2?] I had disassembled the socket and fixed it but did not last long - used to be the bulb would blink but very rapid, now it was not blinking at all. Last night in desperation I pulled the bulb and crammed the receptacle about 1/3 full of dielectric grease, added some more around the base of the bulb an reinstalled.

Happy to say it immediately fixed the problem, just not sure how long it will last as the grease may soften under heat and run out of position. Since the receptacle is sealed however I am hoping enough is trapped in place to last. Its a 5 min fix even with removing the wiper washer filler neck and headlight bulb cap to reach the signal.

Hint - don't try to disconnect the wire harness; just pop the whole shebang out while still connected. Makes it easier to test anyway!

[jaylow]

Excellent. Good move. I've personally used the dielectric grease trick on several older vehicles with the same problem. It's always a good (and cheap) first step before you move on to other troubleshooting solutions.

[jmoser]

Well it worked for a bit but still is intermittent - fails in high temps when parts must be expanding and breaking contact. Better than it was but I guess I have to break down and buy a new overpriced bulb socket.

POS design, add it to the long list for this Swedish lemon.

[jaylow]

Had to replace both bulb sockets and pigtails in my '02 BMW X5 for the same reason. Not that difficult, not that expensive (IIRC, about $90 in parts and I did it myself). Still, it was definitely a hassle, and not something that I should have had to do on a vehicle that had less than 70k miles on it.

Amazingly, the bulb sockets and one power window regulator were the only non-maintenance issues that I had with the X5 in over 100k miles. Here's hoping that my Volvo is that reliable.

[elmwoodblues]

Our 01 having same problem, passenger side front blinker dimmer than driver side and blinker rapid; spent 20 minutes unsnapping plastic cleats and carving up knuckles just now before giving up. Whats in that black box, the one with two metal tabs that clip out to lift lid and expose what look like two cpu boards? For a big car, there are a lot of small places to get to!

[sjonnie]

Whats in that black box, the one with two metal tabs that clip out to lift lid and expose what look like two cpu boards?
That's your engine control unit (ECU), i.e. the computer than controls your engine.