Re-wiring rear hatch 1986 240 DL

Once again the wires going through the hinges of my 240 DL wagon are
shot. I am trying to determine if there is a better way to re-wire the
thing. 1) I could replace the wiring harnesses through the hinges and
look forward to doing so again in 5 - 7 years. Or 2) rig some sort of
loops that bypass the hinges and hang inside the top corners. Or 3)
Get very inventive and put in some sort of contact plates that are
mounted to the sides of the hatch and make contact with corresponding
contacts on the sides of the frame. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks, Carter

 

There was a post, while back, where a guy made a little harness that ran
outside the hinge (inside the car) and posted pictures and a howto on
his website.
I may have it bookmarked at home...

 

_____
I did this "loop harness repair" to my son's 1985 240 wagon. Not too
difficult to do. It is still working well enough. Replacing the
harness through the hinges is certainly do-able, but the hinges have to
almost come of the car. The harness consists of special wire that has
very flexible insulation and extremely fine copper strands. This all
aids the flexing. So far my experience with 240 wagons is that the
hinge harnesses last about 10+ years. I would just get a harness from,
say, FCP Groton, and install it.

 

I'm just passing through (started the thread about the shocks for a
1800/Amazon) and honestly know very little about Volvos. that said,
I'm guessing that this harness is failing because of fatigue of the
wires from repeated flexing. Could you just splice in some better
wire (I'd solder and heat shrink it myself) in the area that actually
flexes to make a longer lasting repair? old Fluke multimeter leads
are a good source of fine-strand wire.

good luck

nate