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ICQ>
>I have a 1989 245. The wires that run through the hinges on the rear hatch >are broken. I need to know how to replace these wires.
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 or post to the list.
If I've left anything out I hope someone will bring it to our attention.
Randy Starkie jrstar@tso.cin.ix.net
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