Taking it off will help extend the life of your other components (those not designed to sit in a 200 degree oven..., CV's, mounts, timing belt, ect.)). 16k is a lot for repairs thus far, and 30k outta your tires is also really crappy. I wonder if there was more to his driving then getting from here to there.. I know the 6-cyls are bad at being hot, but most of the 5's are pretty good. Then again, I'm not in texas..
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Yep-I agree and think it partly explains all (or part of) the replacements I mentioned.

Yes, I think my nephew paid WAY too much for repairs. The dealer charged $1600 for the timing belt change alone, and they didn't even replace the water pump (I wish they had), because they wanted another $255 for that.

They also charged $1000 to replace the driver's side window and regulator, and wanted $600 just for the glass for the left rear door glass (it's laminated glass and the outer pane cracked), so they declined to replace it as well.

As one example, the upper engine torque mount (on the valve cover to the firewall) dried and cracked at about 30k miles, the dealer wanted $450 for, and he bought the part from FCP Groton for $60 and it took 15 min for me to replace. They wanted $600 for front brakes (the rotors were fine-no gouging or warpage, so we just installed pads for $60). The dealer quoted $1500 for an alternator (he had it done for $600 by an independent shop).

He always bought the softest tire compound tires for best handling, which explains the 30k lifespan of them. He drives hard, but this was his wife's car, and she put 95% of the miles on the car, and she drives very easily as her two kids are always inside, if for no other reason.

I think that a lot of things on the car have gone bad (including the trans at 60k miles), too soon, but the dealer charges were way high in my estimation. I shouldn't complain, though, since he sold me the car in disgust for $3000 (that's what Car Max offered him)! With new axles as of last night, it's a different (and most enjoyable) car! Last chore is to eliminate the drift-to-the-left it still has.

Overall, his unhappy experience (He says he'd NEVER buy another Volvo) were due to over zealous billing, and I have to believe all of the underhood failures were somewhat heat related. I've owned Volvos for decades, and based on his single experience, I can't blame him. It's really sad-maybe a less "hungry" dealer network would have resulted in more cars sold, and a company STILL in "Western" hands, rather than a Chinese company.

I don't know how much the turbo adds to underhood temps on the 5 cyl, but trust me, opening the hood was like putting your face into your oven. With the shield removed, it's not, and I figured w/ the open bottom, it might actually FEEL hotter since you now have all that convection air up from the open bottom, but it's not. I should take some measurements of specific items w/ my infrared non-contact thermometer for comparison.