Things to check before replacing DIM?

[Volvo Daddy]

A couple of weeks ago, we had the wife's 2002 basic V70 (145k miles) at the local dealer (where we bought the car new) to figure out why we had to keep adding coolant once a week. Turned out to be a leak in the expansion tank, which was replaced. Also had drive belt tensioner replaced, right axle shaft/boot replaced, an exhaust hangar bracket replaced, 140k service, and a couple of other little things fixed. Total cost was about $1,900. The service technician said the car was in overall good condition.

A week or so later, I was riding in the car with the wife, and it was really warm in the car. I asked could we turn back the heat, but she said that the heat wasn't on, and that ever since the car came back from the dealer, really warm air always blew from the vents. The only time the vents didn't blow warm air was when the A/C was running.

Then last week, the wife told me that the entire instrument panel (aka driver information module or DIM) had begun blacking out. She said that it would be fine when starting the car and driving initially, but after a few minutes (when the engine warms up and the thermostat opens), every guage and meter would drop to zero and the panel would go dark. My first thought was that this was somehow related to the vents blowing warm air all the time, which in turn probably was related to the coolant loss repair.

Back to the dealership we went. The service adviser said they would check out the instrument panel, and let us know. Later, the service adviser called to say that the DIM was shorting out, and would need to be replaced at a cost of about $1,300. Of course, he said that it had nothing to do with the warm air blowing from the vents OR the coolant loss repair. But feeling like we were about to be ripped off, we decided against having the dealer make the repair.

So, now here I am in MVF looking for info about DIMs. I've read numerous threads of similar situations, but almost all of them describe the DIM as 'acting up' for awhile before failing. And I can't shake the feeling that something the service technician did in the course of repairing the expansion tank has contributed to the 'sudden' occurrence of this DIM problem.

Is there anything that I should be looking for that might indicate some connection to the original expansion tank problem, something that might be easily (and cheaply) remedied? Other than the lack of some driver information, is the car safe to drive otherwise? Thanks for your help.

[coflynn]

FWIW: I doubt there is any connection between the last repair & the DIM failing. We (as humans) like to associate reason with random occurances; hence the prevalence of lucky socks, special meals 'guaranteed' to make overdue people give birth, etc. There could be some minimal connection, but really it's almost pure luck. It was undoubtedly on the very edge of failure anyway.

You can read about various options for fixing the DIM for much less than $1300. In most places there is some legal requirement to have a minimum of instrumentation. And the DIM will be your warning if something very bad has happened to the car (loss of coolant, etc). So it's probably worth getting sorted out...

[xHeart]

How old is the battery?

[IdahoBob]

Dimmit!
This is one of my few soap boxes to preach from: beware the unnecessary spend on the replacement DIM. Read around on this forum, and see how easy it is to replace the faulty DIM with one from another car. The 70, 80 and 60 cars are use the same DIM, and it's a plug-n-play thing. It's held in by eight torx-head screws and a plug on the back. The important thing is to get the right rev. # when you go the junk yard. I sat in the junk yard parking lot and plugged them in until I got the one that worked. It shows mileage form the car it came from (The on-board computer retains and tracks true mileage, so this is not a means to reduce mileage on used car), but other wise the works, and my total spend was $65 and an afternoon at the junk yard parking lot. When you find one that works clean and check all the little bulbs screwed in the back. Swap between your dead DIM and the new (used) one until you get all good.

Happy Motoring!

[Volvo Daddy]

I checked a couple of salvage yards in the NoVa area but none had a DIM that matched up with my part #s. I would keep looking but my wife wants her car fixed and she wants it fixed NOW. So I'm leaning towards having XeMODex rebuild the thing and overnight it back to me. Can anyone share experiences with them? Thanks.

[Volvo Daddy]

Over the holidays, I finally managed to get the Mrs. to park her V70 for a few days while I pulled the DIM and sent it to XeMODex for a rebuild. Honestly, this couldn't have been much easier. It actually took longer to pack the DIM securely for shipping than it did to pull the DIM AND to re-install it -- there are detailed instructions for doing so on XeMODex' website. As part of XeMODex' price, sent it overnight UPS on Wednesday and had it back on Friday. After four days of driving, all the DIM problems seem to be gone, and for well less than half the dealer-quoted cost to replace the DIM. Definitely recommend XeMODex if you've got DIM problems.

[Reedsram]

I would recommend Xemodex as well. Had my dash in my S60 for over a month now and no problems, everything works great.

[chrism]

Did the DIm repair cure your heater problem?

[Volvo Daddy]

The heater no longer constantly blows hot air. But it doesn't seem to blow hot air on demand either. And after re-installing the DIM, the cabin fan turned on by itself several times during my test drive. However, the Mrs. hasn't reported that happening since. She HAS told me that the car takes forever to warm up, but I have to take that comment with a grain of salt because she claims to be 'freezing' anytime the temp is below 80F, if you know what I mean.