I'm getting ready to tackle 245 tailgate wiring and wonder if anyone has anything to add to what is already in the archives. Any magic tricks? Any difference between oe and aftermarket harness? Thanks

I have repaired the wiring in the tailgates of the 240's twice. Both times I reused the harness on each side by simply splicing in about 12 inches of wire.

Start by removing the interior panel on the tail gate and locating the lower end of the one of the harnesses. Unplug each wire and cut each wire off about 2 inches from the end. Strip the wire, slip on a piece of heat shrink tubing and solder the 2 inch piece to the 12 inch splice then shrink the tubing. Do this for all the wires on that side. Then slip on another piece of heat shrink tubing and solder each new assembly to the CORRECT original wire in the harness and shrink that tubing. You now have a harness on one side that is 12 inches too long.

I do one side at a time without removing the tailgate. Some people like to remove the tailgate and lay it on a surface that won't scratch the finish. I don't want to wrestle with 75 pounds of tailgate. I rest the tailgate on a 4 foot stepladder after removing the gas struts. You can take one hinge loose at a time this way and complete one side before doing the other.

The headliner is removed at the corners to reveal the nuts that hold the hinges to the roof. Simply grasp the headliner at the corner, pull back and down and it begins to come loose. Notice how the rigid plastic sewn to the edge fits up into and behind the metel lip (very slick setup, easy to remove and replace). Loosen and remove the two fasteners on each half of the hinge (two on the roof side and two on the tailgate). Check your balance point on the ladder carefully as you remove the final fastners on the hinge to make sure the tailgate doesn't move too much and stress the ONE attachment point you still have.

Unplug the upper end of the harness and pull the wires up through the roof panel. There is one connector that is a tight fit. After you have all the wires pulled through and on the top of the roof you can pull the harness up and take up that extra 12 inches in length. Cut the connectors off of each wire (again leaving about 2 inches of wire on each one)and do the solder/heat

shrink routine just below the area where the wires were broken. Push the connectors back down through the roof and reattach them. Replace the hinge (try to leave a little extra slack in the harness in the hinge so as not to stress it any more than necessary when opening and closing the tailgate). I siliconed the area under the hinge to prevent leaks.

One side is completed at this point and the other side just involves doing it again. The first time I did it the total repair time was 3 hours. The second time only took 2 hours.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions email me.

If I've left anything out I hope someone will bring it to my attention.

Randy

Since Randy is a local neighbor, I support his procedure fully! On the last two I did, I bought the harness from the Parts bin - 6.96 for one side and 7.23 for the other side. At that price for the wiring harness - why bother to splice? I did an 88 wagon in about two hours (both sides) using the procedure Randy described.

Color me too lazy to splice!!

Bob Weber

47 Volvos since 1979

Thanks Randy - had seen your advice before and that was what I was thinking I'd do. I'll follow your advice (probably next weekend). Thanks again.

Did you leave out the part about using an old blanket to prevent scratching the roof? Also the two washers on the hinge are different thicknesses.

I don't understand the blanket/scratch the roof question. I didn't use a blanket and I didn't scratch the roof. Likewise, the thickness of the washers being different doesn't sound familiar to me, but it has been a while since I did one of these.

Randy

That must be why there are two of us. You to deal with the bulk, and someone else to deal with the trivia. Padding the gap between the roof and the tailgate saved my paint. You must be fastidious enough for brain surgery. A compliment.

Shortcut learned from someone else, but works. Lengthen the wires inside the tailgate. Pull the harnesses through the hinges until there is fresh unbroken wire at the flex point. Splice inside the car as needed. Slather all potential leaks with gorrilla snot and smile. Cost? Mostly you will probably have everything you need on hand. If your gorrilla doesn't have a cold, spend a buck-2-95 on RTV.

New harness? There's enough wire there already to do this twice. Buy the harness in 2030 or so.

Thanks Napoleon. That's two votes for this method. I'll go with it.