Got the volvo running, but the wire feeds that pass through the tailgate hinges on both sides are broken.

What type of wiring should I use to replace it, and what is the best way to install it?

I couldn't see an easy way to remove the headliner. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

http://www.swedishbricks.net/TechTips/tailgateharness.html

Erling.
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My 240 Page

The best way to to remove the tailgate, make sure to mark with a Sharpie the location of the Brackets on the roof.

The liner looks much harder than it is. The liner just unclips because it has a spring that runs along the edge, just pull it back and you will see the bolts holding on the roof hinges. You just clip it back up when you are finished. I used Telfon wire and spiced out both harnesses. You can find ones with the plugs online a couple of places for a resonable price, but I needed the center light fixed so I could pass the state inspection and did the hard way. It was a two hour job when I did mine. But I already had the butt splices and experiance doing splices. Keep the wire size down to the same as the wires you cut out. Did mine over five years ago and have had zero problems.

Just remember to mark the roof hinges, hard to line the tailgate back up without them. I know, found that tip after the job and five or six tries before the gate line up just right.

Good Bricking,

An old write up of my experience repairing the tailgate wiring:

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.

Randy

When the '91 245 was new, we had two small children who had lots of friends and the third seat was up most of the time. That tailgate got opened many times a day. The original wires failed after about 6 years.

I took some spare wire out of my junk box and soldered in extensions to the wires down in the tailgate, then I pulled about 8" of fresh wire up through the hinges, cut the plugs off the bad section and resoldered them onto the freshly cut wire.

Total cost for repair - maybe $2 worth of solder and shrink tubing.

After a couple more years, the tailgate usage dropped off considerably, so I have never had to do it again, but I have enough slack in my extensions for one more repair like this. After that, if I still have the car, it will be due for fresh wire.

I did the rewire out of the hinges also. I didn't go by the directions but I did mine in a similar fashion. I made a harness using the excisting wires in the tailgate. I did have to put a 1" hole at the top of the tailgate and in the back interior near the headliner and used rubber grommets and some plastic flex wrap where the wires were routed. I made the harness in the tailgate long enough to go all the way up and over into the main body and soldered the wires together behind the headliner. Inside the tailgate, I used some plastic wire clamps with an eye and fastened the harness to the backside of the license plate bracket mounting nuts to hold the harness away from the moving rear wiper. Its not noticable unless you are a diehard purist that doesn't like to modify the original design. It has never failed in over three years. If you do this, be sure to seal the holes in the tailgate hinges with some silicone sealant.

here's the website for my rewiring method:

http://www.vclassics.com/archive/tailgate.htm
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'86 245, 283,000 mi., '87 760T engine compartment burned to a crisp

I used the "bypass the hinges" method of rewiring the tailgate (I'll see if I can find the website for it)

but you can also buy replacement sections of the wiring and slide them through the hinges - then wait for them to break again in a couple of years.
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the headliner is one of the easiest to remove and reapply ever designed in my opinion.

you just need to pull/stretch the edge of the headliner back towards you, you will expose a slim black plastic strip (attached to the headliner) which holds the stretched headliner to the metal frame around the inside ceiling of the car.

once you pull that strip out of its channel you can expose as much or as little of the wiring as you like and easily replace the strip restoring the headliner to its original position and look.
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'86 245, 283,000 mi., '87 760T engine compartment burned to a crisp

You guys are kidding me right? P.U. what a stinker, that looks like absolute crap. You don't need to be much of purist to turn your nose up at that one. Those harnesses really don't cost that much and the majority of what that bill runs is labor, I usually charge about 3 hours labor to do both sides in my shop. The only real trick to doing them is to lube up the new harness before you pull it back through with the wire that you fed through when you pulled the old harness out. They blow out in a couple of years? Come on, I have got 240's in my shop that I litterally did the PDS services on when they rolled off of the semi at the dealership. I have never done a set of harnesses twice in a 240. Just buy the factory Volvo harnesses and install them, I think you will be much happier with the satisfaction of a job well done instead of the eyesore of your headliner hanging down at either corner. Rant off.

Mark