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I come bearing great news! (DEM heat shield)

51K views 115 replies 44 participants last post by  Anthony@VMG 
#1 · (Edited)
My S80 heat shield finally came in. Much to my joy it is a complete bolt on part, the spacers for the shield are built into it! It took me literally 10 mins to put this on. Only thing to be aware of is hold your DEM in place while you are replacing the bolts. I didn't learn the hard way, but I expect it could fall right off.

And because SOME people :p won't read the entire thread, it is Part# 30783129

I christen it....The SS DEM Mod!

part:


part installed (man it looks great!):

 
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Discussion starter · #5 · (Edited)
only the 4th Gen Haldex has the shield, which is what 2007+ S80s use, but it is completely compatible with our unit. It goes without saying that Haldex/Volvo was aware of the heat failures on DEMs and fixed this for S80s. If they were honorable they would issue a TSB and put this on for S60 owners. $30 is super cheap insurance.

EDIT: I forgot to mention the edge of the plate is super sharp and I sliced my thumb open like a watermelon on the edge. My punishment for getting in a hurry and not wearing my mechanic's gloves.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
you don't have a local dealer? I would think the shipping would kill you from myswedishparts....at least it did for me on other items.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
when you say costs half as much though, are you counting labor? I'm sure the actual cost of the Volvo part is in dollars but the labor has to be factored into it.

not deriding your part, just giving people an OEM outlet that is less likely to raise suspicion if it goes to the dealer.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
without wind tunnnel tests I'd have to argue the functional superiority.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
my concern with yours is that more surface area is being heated across a wider area of the car, creating a larger space of heated area to be dissipated. What I like about the volvo design is they used some courrugation to increase the surface area but kept the over all dimensions the same.
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
once it gets some weathering on it you won't be able to tell it was any other way.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
shame! :p

Cool! I have one sitting on my counter right now, just need some time to put it in!

Part# 30783129 "Protecting Plate"
if Volvo runs metrics on what parts are ordered they are going to be WTF? with all of these plates getting ordered.

BTW, expect this to take a few weeks. Mine took almost a month to get here.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
hell, it should be less than that since it could fit in a priority mail envelope.
 
Discussion starter · #23 · (Edited)
Is the DEM for an S80 the same part # for a DEM for the S60R? I want to make sure we aren't creating a problem which doesn't exist by this thing trapping heat rather than dissipating heat... S60R stock DEM failures are being caused by - what? Stock exhaust heat radiation or something aftermarket?
There is another thread that discusses and illustrates the differences between Haldex generations. Long story short, on the surface of the 3rd gen DEM there is some dimpling to increase surface area for dissipation but not much more. 4th Gen Haldex introduced this heat shield that moves the heat conductive surface away from the housing. This is more representative of the kind of heat shielding I've seen for other electronics housings....you never want the housing of the electronics to be the dissipation surface.

whether or not it is stock or aftermarket exhausts killing DEMs, this design ensures that the DEM itself is not the first and last line of defense against heat. also, although my photo doesn't show it, there are no bending fins that restrict airflow coming from the front, the only bend is providing more protection from the exhaust.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Discussion starter · #30 ·
my morning commute logging the DEM temp sensor shows a 3 degree decrease from before so I'm sold.
 
Discussion starter · #33 ·
keep in mind my morning commute is 15 minutes long, morning temps are cooler, and I'm just cruising, not flogging it. I don't have any track temp data to compare to but I agree there should be more of a difference come track time. I consider it signifigant that it registered such a difference without me flogging it.
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
^ How were you able to measure the temp? Just curious, kind of an awkward spot to get to.
hahahaha....DICE/VIDA.....not external temperature probes.
 
Discussion starter · #37 ·
Ahhhh, that makes more sense than you trying to crawl under the car with an IR temp sensor or something. Nothing wrong with an external temp probe now and again though...
but since the DEM temp sensor is inside the housing I wanted to read it to make sure no trapped hot air was between the shield and the DEM, as someone had proposed.
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
a banned user that is all, please don't take this o/t
 
Discussion starter · #42 ·
the spacers on the shield are made of a less conductive metal to reduce heat transfer. They were aware of that potential scenario and accounted for it.
 
Discussion starter · #46 ·
and there is also no guarantee that the metallurgical properties of stainless steel are going to have the same heat dissipation as the aluminum shield.

and as I've already discussed before, this is not counting the labor and equipment involved in making the piece.

I'm going to trust the Haldex engineering on this one.
 
Discussion starter · #47 ·
Yup, all the older AWD P2s would benefit from this mod. If not for the exhaust pipe passing right by the DEMs on our cars most people probably would have never had to replace them.

The sucky part about this for those of us with failing or dead DEMs is that this item is pretty much an admission by Volvo that the unshielded ones on our car are a failure point. Its a shame recall rules arn't a little different so that the manufacturer could eat the replacement costs on these items instead of letting the owners pay for this weakness instead. :rolleyes:
I'm sure the costs of the DEMs Volvo has replaced under warranty would buy a lot of $30 plates.
 
Discussion starter · #50 ·
i don't disagree that Volvo probably dodged the bullet and most DEMs are failing outside of warranty. But when the 2007+ S80 hit the streets with this shield Volvo should have done the right thing for still in warranty Rs and issued a TSB to get this shield on.
 
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