tailgate strut removal and wiring loom repair

[rogereld]

How do I remove the plastic trim panels in the rear of the luggage area. The ones that cover the rear lights and the tailgate struts?

The rear wiper stopped working, and now the boot will not lock or unlock. Replacing the fuse fixed the problem but it soon blew again and inspection of the wiring loom at the hinge point suggests the wiring has probably broken. I want to release the loom at the connector block which is by the rear speaker and get some access to remove the sleeving and do a repair.

I have also had some oil dripping through one of the trim panel joints in the top of the luggage area on to the luggage cover for a while and I suspect one of the tailgate struts has been leaking so I want to tackle both jobs at the same time if they both need the trim removing.

I have been searching the forum and also looking for videos and so far I have found one video on wiring loom repair that says he used a chisel because he did not know how to remove the trim, and one on tailgate strut replacement done by children that does not show how the panels were removed.

I have removed the top centre plastic trim, that holds the interior light for the luggage area, and I have removed the speaker covers. I can not see how to remove the large plastic trim section that covers the lights and speaker area and goes up to cover the hinge and tailgate strut pivot.

Can anyone help with any directions or useful links please?

[Brendan W]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzODxCjalKQ

[rogereld]

Thank you Brendan. The V70 in this video has different trim panels, and still left me guessing on where to pull, or how to avoid cracking the plastic.

I have now removed the top side trim which runs above the side window which is shorter in my 2001 P2 v70 than the sections shown in the video. That has allowed me to pull the pillar trim away just enough to reach the point where the tailgate loom is cable tied to a fixing point and I have managed to snip the cable tie. That has allowed me to get the grey multi connector up and with a bit of lowering of the tailgate, out through the hinge.

Peeling back the two layers of sleeving has revealed a lot of broken wires. At the point where they are broken they are very stiff and it feels like the insulation on each wire has gone hard and brittle.

I will need to get some heat shrink sleeving and then do a bit of soldering.

There was oil on the roof trim panels from the struts on both sides so I will need to find a couple of good tailgate struts before I reassemble the trim.

[Brendan W]

Wow. Never seen one as bad as that. Looks like someone took a hatchet to it.
What was pinching them? You wonder about the wisdom of putting wires and a hinge in the same hole.
Rock and a hard place with the soldering. Not really enough room for spades but if the wires start bending near solder they will break soon. Bind them up good and tight a good length both ways from the break I suppose.

[rogereld]

There is a plastic clip on cover that holds the loom to the hinge bracket. From the bottom of the hinge, the loom bends approximately 90 degrees and feeds to the side, where it is held on the side of the pillar by a cable tie. The damage appears to be where the loom exits the plastic cover on the hinge.

A main dealer have quoted just under £150 inc VAT for a replacement loom. I could get something from a breaker, but it could have hidden faults and be not much better than what I have now so repair seems a good place to start.

[Brendan W]

At least you have a 'smoking gun'. Quite often you see people know the wire is broken but the insulation is intact. I wonder how big a job it would be to completely rewire from plug to plug.

[harveys]

I had the same issues with mine ,But I went for a replacement harness Volvo charged £120 for it happy to pay that as I keeping the car long-term.
You also need to consider the fire risk , I can recall a V70 that did catch fire at the hinge .

[rogereld]

That began to sound familiar and got me searching some old threads. This one was about a broken tailgate wiring loom but had a different title and I had not found it in my earlier searches even though I had contributed to it in 2016.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=260136 (2003 V70 rear electrics).

[Brendan W]

I imagine that they are industry standard terminations in the plugs that could be freed with a small screwdriver and replaced with new.

[Theeggman]

If you are removing the loom could you not splice in new sections of cable terminating on a non-flexing length and save some pennies?