So I bought a 1989' 245DL and I've come to realize that the rear hatch wiring is completely disconnected. I got a new left and right side harness from IPD, but I'm not sure where it is supposed to connect to the wiring in the body. What I mean is, I dont know how to get it from the hatch, to the connectors above the roof canvas without cutting holes in things. Additionally there's a 4-pin plastic connector on the passenger side of the hatch that I had assumed was the right harness, but I couldn't find the other end of it, even though I can see every connection that should be attached to that harness is loose. And when I decided to just pull it out of the hole near the hinge it got stuck at what I assume is the end of the cable, making me worried its still connected to the wiring for the rear defroster, but I'm not sure. what all is supposed to connect to that harness? My haynes manual has a wiring diagram, but it doesn't really explain how the cables are run through the body, so I'm not sure if its just wedged on something or if there's another problem causing it to not come out. it has the plastic white 4-pin connector on one end, and the shielding on it is a medium to light gray color, seems the 4 wires inside the shielding are the same colors as the new IPD harness I got.

I also have an issue with the shifter (the car is an automatic sadly) where there's nothing stopping me from moving between the gears, if that makes sense. Like normally you have to press the brake pedal to "unlock" the shifter, in this I don't need to depress the brakes, I can just push it around freely. the buttons on the shifter **** are missing as well, I can pull the black plastic "cap" off the top without any resistance. Any idea what is going wrong there, and is that something I could fix by just getting a new shifter assembly? How hard is that to replace?
It also shifts rough and doesn't really seem to have any reverse idle speed, putting it in reverse with my foot off the brake does not cause it to move slowly backwards, I have to give it gas. And my reverse lights dont come on either. If the trans is going out, I'd really like to swap this over to being a manual, but I dont know what my options are or what the process is for doing that in one of these cars, this is my first volvo.

Some other issues are:

1. My horn doesn't work. if I push the bars on the inside of the wheel down, nothing happens, same if I have the airbag back on and press it.
2. Speedometer (electronic) doesn't work, where can I check to see if its the gauge vs some relay or fuse or something?
3. The headlights are stuck in high beams, stalk does nothing, where should I start to pinpoint the fault?
4. The headlight housings themselves seem to just freely move around a good inch or two although I don't have the grille in right now, not sure if that's needed to help hold them in place.
5. Sometimes the bulb-out indicator flashes when the turn signals are on but the lights seem to be working fine.
6. The front grille was gone (I bought a new one) and I dont know what clips or screws or brackets or whatever might be missing to help hold it in, the repair manual doesn't fully show that process, so if someone can show or explain in detail what mounting hardware the grille needs I'd greatly appreciate that. I know I need the plastic screw-in clips that go in the top. But aside from that I dont know what holds it, or anything else on the front end for that matter, in the car.
7. The airbag is there in the wheel but its not attached or screwed into anything so I can just lift it off freely, and I can see there's a connection point in the center of the airbag for a wire but I dont have any such wire in the wheel to plug in to that spot. I'm not opposed to just getting rid of it since I'm not 100% sure its original to this car anyways, so can the center pieces from non-airbag wheels fit in place of the airbag?
8. Theres a random connector coming off of the "rear fog light" switch that I cant determine what it plugs into, so unless it goes onto the instrument cluster somewhere then I'm not sure what its for, and it doesn't seem to stop the switch from working.
9. My rear driver side door is locked, and cant be unlocked. My key doesn't work with the doors, only the ignition so I cant try to unlock it that way. But even if I could it seems like its binding on something since the previous owner tried to pull the lock open from the inside and wasn't successful. Can the door card be removed without opening the door or removing the whole back seat? any experience with that kind of thing happening to anyone else here?
10. I have no spare wheel, I'm looking for one of those if there's somewhere I can get a new one (rim and tire) aside from a junk yard.

This is the biggest random issue I'm having and what I'm most wanting to fix since its keeping me from driving it at night:
My brake lights work when I step on the pedal. The dash light comes on saying a bulb is out, but I'm assuming thats because I'm missing the center brake light entirely (I'm in the market for one if someone has a spare housing and reflector for an 89' wagon, I bought a 90' wagon one thinking it was the same and it doesn't fit). However, when the headlights are on, the brake lights come on to their normal running-light brightness as they should, but when I depress the pedal they dont get any brighter. So they work perfectly fine when the headlights are off, the "rear fog light switch" works fine as it should, and they come on when the headlight switch is turned on as they should, but when the headlights are on and I step on the brakes, the brake lights dont react. they dont get darker, they dont get brighter from the perspective of anyone outside the vehicle, and they dont turn off or anything, but they dont light up fully as they should. I mentioned "from the perspective of anyone outside the vehicle" because from the driver seat with the cargo area covers off, looking back, I can see that they give the tiniest almost imperceivably bit more light back towards me, showing something is happening back there, I just cant see any difference when I or anyone else stands behind the car to watch the lights. I have no idea what is causing this, or where to even look, once again the wiring diagram in my repair manual doesn't really offer much assistance with this issue. I've already replaced the red bulb sensor thing under the dash.

There are a ton more issues and I'll probably think of a couple more I forgot to add after I posted this. I'll try to get a video or some photos up of what I'm talking about to help explain things. I'm also missing a few interior trim pieces if anyone here has spare parts for these sitting around (for instance, everything for the back hatch, and the passenger side cargo area cover that goes on the wall beneath the window).

 

You need a Volvo junkyard near you to source missing parts. A test light and a wiring diagram and a basic understanding of signal tracing to figure out your electrical problems. Most of them are simple solutions. Taillights/brake light is easily solved - correct bulbs? correct bulb sockets? melted tail lamp assemblies?

Shifter may have a broken plastic shift gate. Headlamps flop around when the adjusters are broken, use safety wire to attempt to tie them into the correct position or purchase new ones. High low beam is controlled by the hi.low relay under the hood (left inner fender well) ground the brown wire at the relay to switch from low to high beam. That wire goes to the turn signal switch and should ground it when you pull the ts switch. Get a used steel 240 wheel with a normal tire, it fits. You red bulb out relay will never do the right thing and was a waste of money. Stop buying parts you don't need. The bulb out system may never work correctly again, unless you pay someone to fix it or develop the skills to figure this out your self. It's a very simple electrical system compared to any modern car - . Airbag - who knows? Sounds like a car that has not been fixed by a knowledgeable person for many years..

The speedometer is probably bad and will never work without spending $$$$$.

Pry the corners of the headliner off to get to the plugs for the tailgate wiring harnesses in the body. Remove the cargo door panel to get to the items in the tailgate - but honestly why are you focusing on that? 3rd brake light is not there, Does the central locking still work on any of the doors? Do you or the local/state law enforcement officer care about the tag lights? Is the rear wiper important to you or even still there? Sound like there are many more urgent safety related things (lights/air bag,etc) to take care of before tailgate harness stuff.

All airbag cars have a "contact reel" - sound like yours is missing, if there no wiring. Be careful not to spend much on this car - it will never be worth more than it is right now - which is a few hundred dollars (sorry) I'm certain there are many interior and exterior trim and paint problems - it's a 3x year old car.

 

Thanks! lot of good info in that. I'll spend a good bit of time tomorrow digging through it and fixing what you mentioned.

There isn't a volvo specific junkyard near me that I can find, but when a 240 does pop up at the local pick and pull I always check it out.
The tail light issue was a lot worse. The housings were both replaced only a couple weeks before I got it (previous ones were broken), and I replaced all the bulbs and had to replace a couple [missing] end caps already which did help. Unfortunately the issue with them not completely coming on correctly hasn't been solved by just replacing plastic lenses/bulbs. That's why I'm asking for help here, and also why I had to get a new red bulb out relay as well, originally none of the lights except one headlight worked. $10 for two bulb out relays at a junk yard I think was worth buying, I might use the broken old one to make a bypass later for if/when these go bad.

For the airbag, yeah the dash was almost completely stripped at one point and the previous owner kinda cobbled it back together haphazardly. I was only curious if I can fit the center cover from a non-srs wheel onto it or if I need to just replace the whole wheel if I want to go that route. I looked into it, and yeah I dont have the contact reel it seems.
The speedometer is bad yes, I was asking if there was a quick way to tell which part has gone bad, the speedometer, the harness, or maybe a relay or sensor somewhere further up the line. I dont mind spending money to fix it, otherwise I wouldn't have asked and would just stick with the cheap usb powered speedometer I have in there now.

Tag lights, yes my state does pull people over for having rear tag lights out, I've been given several warnings about it in the past in other cars. Central locking does work but presumably the wire shielding has frayed because it drains the battery, and as such the fuse is pulled for that. Being that its an 89' I do need to have a functioning third light to be road legal. I can probably ignore it being missing for awhile, and likely will, since its an older car and I can get away with it usually. But if I get pulled over for something minor and the cop knows about the cutoff date for that in Texas then yeah that could be an issue.

The car was extremely cheap, much cheaper than it should have been even with all of the issues. The next cheapest 245 I saw had 900k miles on it, had a transmission on its way out, needed all new mounts, was completely gutted behind the front seats, and had mismatched body panels. Despite all that it still somehow sold for 2k. The idea of any car being worth "a few hundred dollars" is unfortunately a thing of the past these days, and something you only get in a friends and family type deal, or just sheer luck. And I'm not worried about improving the value of it, I never buy a car with the intent to resell. I'll do what I need to make the car work in a way I'm happy with, and if it outlives its usefulness, then it will go. Otherwise I'd be perfectly fine keeping it until either I or the car cant move any more.

 

Unplug (and label) the the wires except for the brake light and ground wire at the taillamps. Then get the brake lights working. (using your $5 test light if needed, and a long stick to hold the brake pedal down) Do the same for the rear parking lights. Make sure the brighter filament in the 1157 bulb comes on with the brake light and the dim (5w) filament comes on with the parking lights.

 

I have a finnish greenbook wiring diagram for an 81 year if you need any pictures or translations i could help

 

Some of that would be helpful , but a 1981 (in the US) does not have a third brake light, and uses electronic fuel injection.