I'm wondering if anyone has repaired the wiring to the rear door of the wagon where it is briefly exposed, All of mine have cracked at the hinge rendering the heater, brake light, and wiper inoperable. The Bentley manual is mum on the subject. Any experiences/words of wisdom to share before I embark on the repair journey?

the whole job if you are using a new harness takes about 30 minutes per side.

find a 2 x 4 which is the same height as the tailgate when the tailgate is fully open prop the 2 x 4 under the middle of the gate.

leave both struts in place.

peel back the headliner to get access to the 2 bolts in the roof

loosen and remove both bolts inside the tailgate

loosen and remove both bolts in the roof

have a soft towel between the tailgate upper edge and roof so the tailgate will not scratch the paint once the hinge is off

get a piece of wire and snake it through the tailgate top down once the hinge is off

tie it around the new harness and pull it through top down

place it in the hinge properly and reconnect the reverse of removal

like i said about 30 minutes

I ordered the new wiring from IPD a couple of years ago. Was a nice Sunday afternoon's work to install it. Made everything start working again. I did find a new set of hinges with the ground wire intact that I changed out at the same time. You will find that things go better if you install the new harness from the top down. You will never get that large connector through the narrow space under the hinge. I did disassemble the connectors on the lower end to make things slide through more easily. They are fairly simple to remove the plastic from the harness too. It simply snaps back on when you have the wires routed.
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Read this thread from last week

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1558394/220/240/260/280/245_tailgate_wiring_alternative_approach.html

Everyone who has owned a 240 wagon has had to do it. Do a search for 240 hinge wiring and you will find tutorials on the official way as well as some work-arounds. Unless they stopped carrying it, IPD and others carry replacement harnesses.

While you are at it verify that the grounding straps and the hinge pins themselves are still good.