I have fixed two problems on my 92LX station wagon, and expect I will need to fix both of them on my other two wagons, plus the two other wagons in the family. I imagine these same chores will be needed, or may have been done already, on most 2nd generation Escort station wagons.
The problems:
1. The wires between running between the body and the rear gate get cracked from age and the flexing from gate opening, and eventually they break. I had done a repair to two of the eight wires a few years ago - but now had some wires breaking just inside the body where I could not reach them.
2. The little screws holding the lenses of the license plate lights get so rusted up that the phillips head 'cross' disappers. If you cant unscrew them, you cant replace a dead bulb, and it would fail the next annual inspection or get you a ticket.
For the first probem, I removed the plastic trim panel from the innner side of the gate, so I could detach the wiring harness from all the things it was connected to. From the body I removed the passenger side trunnk panel and the trim panel around that right rear window. This exposed the harness that runs upward to the gate. I unclipped it from the various things holding it & unplugged it from its connector. Then I could feed the harness up through the hole in the body (the gate being open), the movement making the original wire loop larger. From the guts of the gate I also unclipped all the connectors, then worked that harness up and out through the similar hole in the upper right corner of the gate. I had already pried the grommets out to do this.
Then I began splicing in new wires, from about 6 inches on each side of where the middle of the loop had been. One by one I clipped out about 12" from each wire in the harness. I spliced in new wires of the same size as those in the harness, with new supple and uncracked insulation. Each wire was about 13" long to allow for my lapped splice joints. Each splice also got two layers of heat shrink tubing to cover the splices.
I wrapped the reconstituted harness with black electrical tape to stop the sunlight, & fed the wires back into place; so the visible wire loop was about the same size/length as the original had been. Then I put all the other stuff back.
The second task I did by removing the lomg black plastic license light support. It is held onto the car by 3 nuts on studs, two supports using small phillips head screws easily accessible with the gate trim panel removed, AND One Fat Rusty phillips head screw visible from the outside if you open the gate halfway. This is a 6mm thread machine screw, and has not come out easily on any of the three wagons I have in my driveway.
On my 94LX I was able to free it up to unscrew, using one of those hand held impact tools. On the 92LX I used a dremel moto tool to grind a sort of slot in it, and even then I had to heat the captive nut from the inside with my oxy-acetylene torch before the impact tool would turn it. In spite of making up a heat shield, I almost set fire to the handle for opening the gate.
With that license ight bracket removed from the car, I could reach the rusted heads of the screws with the cutoff wheel of the Dremel; to cut slots in them - so I could unscrew them and replace the old screws with stainless screws from home depot. (I used #8 by 5/8" phillips head screws). While I was at it I cleaned up the lenses, the back half of the lamp housings, and put in new bulbs. I didnt use #194 bulbs, but used #161's instead. They are a smaller wattage, so as to not melt the lamp housings any further.
This work took me quite a while, spread over almost a week of an hour or so each day. The labor cost of having this done would likely result an owner who doesnt do his own work in giving up and just junking the car.