volvo 240 - 2 failures

We have had two failures on the car which seem to be linked.

Firstly the rear wiper no longer works (need to fix as mot is due) and also
the rear door (boot) no longer unlocks with central locking. It will unlock
and lock manually with key.
Seeing as both problems affect the boot area it seems reasonable to think
the root cause of the problems are maybe the same thing.
Have checked the fuse and it is okay.
Can anyone advise please?

 

The wiring harnesses in the tailgate hinges have failed, it's a very
common problem and an achiles heal of the car. Fortunately new harnesses
are not expensive or particularly difficult to replace. There's one
running through each hinge, if you open the gate you'll be able to see
the break.

 

Thanks very very much for the extremely quick reply. Most useful.
I shall check it out.
So this would cause both faults would it?

 

And, probably your license plate light is out as well. They all go
through the hinges...

 

Thanks very much for the information. Anything else that could have failed?
We have had a red light warning come on today, probably unrelated.

 

The license plate light is still working, just checked

 

Those harnesses run everything in the tailgate, window wiper, power
lock, license plate light, center brake light, and the rear window
defroster. Not all the wires will break at once but once one breaks the
rest are not far behind.

 

Thankyou James and Clay. Too hot to be fiddling with the car this week, so
shall take a look at it at the weekend when its a bit cooler
Shall phone the local dealer and ask for prices for a new piece.

 

Will we have to replace all the broken wires? that could be costly?

 

Dealer is probably $$$, I'd check FCP Groton or alloemvolvoparts.com
personally. Post back if you need help replacing, it's not too hard but
a helper will be needed to remove the tailgate and you have to mark the
hinge positions to make alignment easier.

 

The wires are each part of a custom made harness, you just buy the two
harnesses and they plug in at both ends. I think I paid about $45 for
the pair last time I did one.

 

Ok thanks so much for your help. I will let you know how it goes.

 

I had wiper and lock problem. It was the passenger side (in the US) ie right
side harness. I still haven't replaced the driver side (left) as it was more
work.

Howard

 

Yeah I have the same problem and I traced it back to that area
(hinges). I was not in handy with a new harness, but I found that you
can pull some of of the wiring that is still protected and not broken
through and place that in the hinge. I just spliced all of the
connections together and then put them inside the tailgate. Now my
rear wiper works! I spliced my defrost over as well but I wasn't sure
if that works yet. Being summer and all I haven't had a chance to turn
it on.

 

Not sure if you use eBay, but here it is.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volv...ryZ33647QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Thanks. I am actually in the UK, but that picture gives me a good idea what
we are looking for.

 

btw...
I'm going after the wiring in my tailgate too.
John Law pointed out to me the other night that my license plate light
doesn't work.
Any pointers on how to get the hatch release off? The panel is popped
loose all around but I can't see how to get it past the handle.

 

http://forums.turbobricks.com/search.php?searchid=708363.

 

It pops upward, it just press fits down onto a flange.

 

Sorry to be so long getting back to you but my Dad has only just had the
chance to look at the car.
After hours of trying to work out how to get to the harnesses and failing to
do so, he pulled the roof overlay down and just under the roof there was an
unplugged cable. He plugged it back in and everything worked.
It seems over the years the foam protection around the two plugs had worn
away and they were loose. Perhaps going over a speed bump or something made
them finally come unplugged from each other. Was just a case of plugging
them back into each other and put some binding tape around to keep them in
place.
Thanks for your help anyway and to everyone else. If someone has a problem
database they could add it to the database as something which might be an
issue.