Air Baffling

[prwood]

Air baffles. There are a bunch of them on the front end of my car, and in my experience they're the flimsiest components on the entire car. Here's a diagram:

AirBaffles.jpg (65 KiB) Viewed 768 times

In my case:

#1 has a broken clip and only stays in place through sheer will
#3 has a broken clip as well and hangs off of #1. I'm assuming its job is to help scoop air into the intake snorkel, but I don't think it's very effective in its current state.
#9 came off just this weekend with #'s 10+11 attached, while I was working on the radiator... not sure if it absolutely needs to go back on.
#'s 5 and 8 aren't present and never have been on my car, as far as I can tell
#7 keeps coming off

Given the above:

1. Considering how flimsy and poorly-connected these things are, would I be right in thinking that they're not critical components, and that there wouldn't be much ill effect if they were missing?

2. Just out of curiosity, which of these do you have on your car, and what kind of shape are they in?

[Rattnalle]

Mine are all in excellent shape and fit well. The car's only 15 years and 330' km old though

I'm thinking some ham-fisted person has been poking around yours if they're falling apart..

On the previous S80 I had to glue number 7 in place though. That car was manufactured December of 1999 though, sooo last millenium

[prwood]

My fists have been known to be shaped like ham from time to time...

I'm thinking about putting #9 back in. However, I can't find any repair guides or diagrams that show where #9 goes in relation to other front-of-engine components.

#1 and #4 above are sandwiched together and sit in front of the top part of the radiator.
#6 is on the bottom underneath everything.
My guess is #9 is supposed to go in front of the condenser towards the bottom, but I'm not sure what it attaches to?

[Rattnalle]

I'm guessing the car has been worked on by more hands than yours over the years though

[prwood]

I'm guessing the car has been worked on by more hands than yours over the years though

No doubt...

The first owner serviced it at a Volvo dealer from 2001 through 2007 (0 -> 102,000 miles) , then at a local gas station garage from 2008 through 2015 (102,000 -> 188,751 miles), and then I've been servicing it ever since (188,751 -> 238,075 miles). So I have only been working on it for about 20% of its miles.

[ndphotonl]

Volvo S80 2.4T Default Air Intake by Andy Ramdin, on Flickr

I replaced it with this (piece of aluminium). I think it helps, although I didnt measure before/after. But I think it's better for directing air into the intake. A high pressure intake will aid in making more power.

Volvo S80 2.4T Air Intake Mod by Andy Ramdin, on Flickr

It's on a S80 though