I am in need of information on accessing the wiring harness where the tailgate meets the hinge. I have an 89 240 wagon and it looks like it recently had a new tailgate out on and the left and right side wiring harness has been cut at the hinge. This disables the middle brake light, rear wiper, and license plate light. I want to gain access to the wiring harness to reconnect the wires. I think I need to know how to remove the headliner as I will need to get to the bolt that holds the body hinge on. Also can I just pull the wires from inside the tailgate at the top (near hinge) to give me enough play to add an extension? I any help would be greatly appreciated.

"...need to know how to remove the headliner..."

Easy. The headliner has a metal 'edge' sewn into its rear border. With CLEAN HANDS, pinch the rearmost part of the headliner near one hinge, and draw it aft. It's stretchier in warm weather, but it should stretch enough for you to get it off. Once you've peeled it back you can trace the gray-sheathed wire bundle back to a plastic connector on each side.

As far as replacing the harnesses - I prefer to remove the tailgate (you'll need a helper, it's not heavy but it is unwieldy) and put in new Volvo harnsses. Some Bricksters splice in replacement sections using test-lead wire; regular stranded wire is not flexible enough for repeated opening and closing, and will break again soon. Some have bypassed the through-the-hinge approach, but IMO the results are less than appealing to the eye although quite functional.

From probably '85 on, the tailgates are all wired about the same. Search the archives here to get a variety of approaches and details which I've likely left out.

BTW, note that the hinges themselves each have a ground wire. Check this for electrical and mechanical integrity when you do the job.

What's the crack about the clean hands?

I have it on good authority that everyone who reads this board is meticulously clean at all times, wearing white lab coats with Volvo logos while doing maintenance on our automobiles.

I find that it also helps to look as much as possible like David Niven (at least the mustache). ;)

The black that you get on your hands while fiddling with the tailgate latch and poking and prodding immediately prior to removing the headliner magically transfers permanently to the headliner. Ditto for handling the black monkey snot used to seal the hinge bolt holes.

In addition to what Don and Jim have told you, another source of info on the tailgate wire harness is the TECH TIPS at swedish bricks homepage.

1. To get inside the headliner, grasp the edge of the headliner near a corner and pull straight back. The headliner is held on a thin metal strip, you'll see it when you pull back the headliner. You only need to pull back enough to reach the wires and bolts. Putting it back on is the reverse and easy.

2. I don't think there is enough slack in the wires to pull them up from the tailgate to reconnect to the harness above the place where they broke but you could try that. What I did was to get some electrical test lead wire (very flexible) and then splice this between the wires above the headliner down through the hinges to connect to the wires in the tailgate. I wasn't too happy with this. Everything works but the old wire in the harness did not want to take solder very well. I tried scraping the coating off, using extra flux, etc. The result was not up to my standard of a good solder connection. I used shrink wrap tubing to cover the splices.

3. Suggestions: New harnesses are not expensive when bought from some of the internet suppliers. You might be better off with new harnesses. Also, several on the BB have re-routed the harness wires out under a gap in the headliner and through the bolt access hole at the top of the tailgate. This avoids having wires in the hinges where they get pinched. I've seen photos of this and the job looks pretty neat. I may do that next time.

4. Be sure to check the black ground wires at the hinges. If you disturb the hinges be sure to reseal them carefully and get them back on in exactly the same position they were before. I marked position with masking tape, some use correcting fluid or markers. Also, only take off one hinge at a time and support the tailgate on a small step ladder.You'll have to release the two tailgate struts to do all this.

That's all I can remember for now. Post back if you have problems.