My 1983 240 wagon has two broken wires running through the passenger side (right hand side) hinge.

Any idea what these wires are for?

Also, any hits on how to re-route replacementwires?

Thanks.

Moon

 

Anything electrical on the rear hatch, e.g. rear wiper, licence plate lights, rear hatch power lock motor etc.

You need to pull part of the headliner down to access the harness connector, remove the rear hatch panel, and remove the hinge to be able to route the new harness.

Make sure you support the hatch when you do it.

Good Luck, it's a tough job.

B

 

The two on the passenger side are for the wiper motor and the lock motor.
The three on the driver's side are for the center stop light, the defogger, and the license plate light.
Better to remove the hinge, only one hinge at a time. Open the tailgate and secure it, either tie it or support it. Remove the struts. Remove the carpeted panel from the tailgate. Pull the right rear corner of the headliner to the rear and release the headliner, exposing enough to get at the hinge bolts. The nuts should be 13mm through the roof. Mark the hinge position with masking tape on the roof and the tailgate. Remove the hinge. 12mm nut on the tailgate bolt plus a Philips screw.
You can get a replacement wiring harness from FCP Groton. Before messing with the wiring be sure to disconnect the negative battery cable.
Let us know how it goes.
The tailgate is heavy.

 

Thank you Blue Goose, i am having the same problem with the wiring, just got the new one and i am going to attempt the replacement myself. Surely your instruction will help. hope to be able!

 

You can do it. When I did mine I had a problem fishing the cable connectors through the tailgate. So I just cut them off leaving about 6" of wiring attached. After I fished them through I soldered the wires and covered with heat shrink tubing.

Post back.

 

Triple, Blue- I was noticing my hatch wires(89 240DL wagon) just yesterday,and how cut they all look,and this morning the rear wiper stopped working. Guess i should've driven my MG...

 

Thanks for your post blue goose. So today i ended up doing the job. everything went smooth passing through the new wiring on both sides. I was so excited when i got to test it, however, with great disappointment [:@], wiper, and center stop light still don't work. The lock motor, defogger and license plate light they now work fine. Hope is not the wiper motor. Any idea, suggestion is appreciated? Maybe is the switch that doesn't work, also water doesn't come out from the back hose.

 

How about the ground wires? Thick black wires going through the hinges. Were they OK?

 

thanks! good point, they were both broken and i had to replace them soldering new one. i think i will try to get a voltmeter to test if there is continuity and volts at the tailgate wiper.

 

tringa / goose- I'm in the middle of doing mine tonight. The wires are all a "soft" kinda copper- really fine stranded. The ground wire I was gonna use I'm afraid will break after a few years of open, close. What type of wire is that? Dave

 

Hi Dave,
to replace the ground wire I used a normal piece of electric wire, the only thing, i kept it a little longer than the original so hopefully it will not have so much friction. A suggestion, as Blue Goose said, it is better to do one hinge at the time. Also use a wire clothes hanger to feed the new harness through the tailgate. This link may help you http://www.ipdusa.com/uploads/sku_files/12624_INST.PDF

Good luck!

 

tringa- well, I was thinking about just using lamp cord for the ground, the others I just spliced some new wires in- didnt spring for a new "harness". So fishing the lines in I dont think will be a problem. I might look for some of that soft wire, or go yank some at the junkyard... Dave