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240 245 Tailgate hinge harness replacment

wgusler

New member
Joined
May 10, 2016
Location
Apopka, Florida US
Decided to tackle the tailgate wire harness replacement as the lock and wiper have never worked and the third light died. Bought new OEM Volvo harnesses and decided to do one side at a time. Pulled the trim and one hinge and found some ugliness.


I knew about the broken wires but also found the tab broken off the hinge and the ground was just about done. The hinge tabs were corroded and dirty, been broken for a long time.
Looking inside the tailgate I discovered it had been hit in the tailgate and repaired. This might explain the broken tabs on the hinges.

To run the wires, I cut the ends off the original harness and attached a 16 gauge 6 foot long wire.
Pulled the old harness and wire and then attached the new harness to the middle of the 16G wire and pulled it thru. Worked like a champ and I left the 16G wire in place. Repeated the process on the other side.

Not having replacement hinges ( only black available OEM) decided that the broken tabs can't be too big a deal as the tailgate has worked fine for 4 years like that, so I left them as is but still had the ground wire problem.

I used the 16g wire and attached it to the ground locations inside the gate and ran them thru the hinge and down to the ground in the rear corners of the quarter panels.


I left 12 inches rolled up under the headliner on both sides so if they break in the future, I will just pull some thru and splice.
Everything on the gate now works!
 
Thanks
I have used this site constantly since getting the 245 to help me " polish the turd" back into shape.
This is a great resource for DYI fixes and questions, so to give a little back for noobs like me I have been taking pics as I go. I just repaired the door lock system and will post that when time allows.
 
I really need to do this to my 245 as my plate lights, and reverse lights aren't working and I can see the busted wires in the hinges. These pictures will help a bunch.
 
How did you support the tailgate in the open position while you did the work?

I see the block of wood on the roof, but I'm wondering about how you kept it open while working in/around the car.

Thanks for the pix... very good.

-Tom in SoCal
 
A shop tool 'T' with rollers that is used to support wood on a table saw works well, can get at Harbor Freight or Sears, but a 18" push broom works too.
To the OP, if the wipers, third brake light and lock don't work then it is common to the ground in the hinge and not necessarily the harness itself.
I did this job now 3 times on my 245 and last time was a year ago but tired to repair that ground but it didn't hold. Time for a new hinge or similar to what you did.
 
I did away with the hinge ground when I did mine about 2 weeks ago, I pulled an extra wire like wgusler did, and hopefully left enough in the tailgate to pull the area that breaks and do it again in the future. I tell you what, of all the little things I've done on my 245, getting the hatch to lock is way up there on my satisfaction list (especially because the lock tumbler doesn't match the key, so there wasn't a way to lock it :oops:)
 
WOOD! Got to get the Wood!

JK, I just cut an 8' 2x4 to the height of the open t gate lip and +1" and propped it up.

If you do one side at a time, this works fine. I would suggest a wider 3/4" board for the middle support between the gate / roof so not to dent anything. The swag wagon roof is allready beat up :)
 
To the OP, if the wipers, third brake light and lock don't work then it is common to the ground in the hinge and not necessarily the harness itself.

True, but in this case the wiper never worked, then the third light stopped a year later and two years after that the rear lock. Looking at the hinge, you could see the breaks in the wire.

Good tip on your part. My Volvo guy at Cech Bro. told me to hook a ground from the battery to the t gate to test.

If my damm kids would just stop using the t gate it would have been fine..................:-P
 
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