Ps: board also had a bit of water damage, nothing broken. Just crusty. I cleaned it.
My car type:
2006 volvo S60 2.5T ( cem H )
The damage on my working CEM:
Header C ( see wiring manual: recommended you print it for yourself. Always good to know )
Ps: this cem was not OEM, so the connector that goes into this port was not corroded.
The OEM one wasn’t messed up that bad actually. It blew up though, someone tried to jump the car from the battery and it died. This is the replacement. It came to me and was installed by volvo in this condition. ( legit )
I had a working CEM, but I didnt have windshield wipers and like it was funky. ( plus I sent this off to be transfered to a new one and the company had an issue and… long story shot… they fkd my pins up… granted they were on life support lololol… but they broke the cars breaking system… lolololololol. Dont worry i didnt put it in the car on this state at all…. look how bad that damage is lol. Omg )
So I decided to check it out myself. Since I hadn’t put it in the car since inspecting it from receiving it back due to some errors on the company I sent it to had inventory issues and I needed my car now and volvo wanted my unborn child to put a new one in.. I decided why not man. Let’s risk the entire biscuit and do this ourselves.
Decided to take a look, save me a 1.2k ( I’d have to tow my car farrrrrr If you’re wondering about the price lol )
since the CEM is actually working. I also had a few dead CEMs laying around from differnt models ( you can also buy them for cheap. Just take them for spare parts really… also you can make pins as well. Look it up ) I had them because… it’s a long story with this car I tell you whhhat 😂😂
Here is me taking a look at a transplant board ( its a CEM L and yeah I don’t care the part is the same lol. Let’s salvage that bad boi ) ^____^ yeet
Super clean, so I used a soldering iron and solder sucker ( yes that’s the technical term, get a good one and I used rosin and solder to make it easy to remove it all and drop it free.. it is impotent to develop a technique on the dead board before doing this on the real board/ working board )
Here is me looking under the magnifying glass at the back of the dead board at the header I want to remove.
( note:
please note the boards are coated in something that makes it water proofish to an extent…. makes it hard to desolder stuff take your time. Different years/models have differnt levels of this… idk why. It may burn, make sure it’s not the board tho lol. )
So just take some time, don’t burn the board to much. You’ll be fine fr, its like no biggy. Don’t press on the pins super hard when you go to check them after youre trying to desolder the entire thing to make sure they are free. Don’t want to hurt the pad ^_^
Use something flat to push the thing free of the board when you’re ready at the end.
Here is a pic of the 32 port C I want ^_^
Now that i have the header removed let’s do this for realz on the working CEM ^_^
Here is me taking apart my working CEM: ohhh yes, look at that technique though )
View attachment 150404
( I used cardboard shims and unclipped the “inside of the L” connector first and used a bone tool to like pry apart the connector side plastic. See pic )
There is 2 hidden clips under the nubs on the sides. Use a bone tool in the space between the shell and it will come apart. ^_^ pro tip
Turn it over and just work the rest of the clips slowly… I pretty much got to where I can take it apart in like 25 min frfr lol . It should really just start wanting to fall apart. Just start going round and feeling the clips for tension. You dont want to break it.
Now..
Here is my board, it’s damaged and yes I cleaned the entire board with contact cleaners and Q tips and just gave it a full once over you know, basically a full cleaning. Just check it out and do your thing. You can pretty much spray contact cleaner at full force on the board and that will remove crap. No issue at all. Restored it’s original look instantly. I dont have pictures of it all clesned up and stuffs, but…
here is the working board before the part the transplant and cleaning.
Now let’s desolder that old crusty header port and install the new header.
Note: yeah that black stuff is crust rosin Flux and like not the greatest solder joints. I cleaned it up in post. This is like 5 seconds after doing it first round lol.
All jokes aside you should check for shorts!!!!! Note:
on my model ( see at the beginning. ) there is 2 pins that should beep if you use a multimeter and test every pin for continuity…. the rest should not have any continuity with any other pin ever. !!! I did not ohm it out, 2 pins should still show no reistance or like close to 0 youll figure it out. Play with it its safe ^_^ )
So after checking for shorts and solder joint sturdiness ( push on them lightly with something metal under a magnifying lense and light and test for wobble… if there is wobble try to heat the pin and it should set it to the pad that time. Let it cool and push again until it’s stable )
I decided it was legit finally after checking it like a gazillion times lolz. ( yes that’s the entire volvo S60 electrical book printed out so I can mess with stuff ^_^ I’m serious you should print that out for your car )
And the results…. * drum rolls * 
🥵😛😛
It worked, my bois <3 yeet, * air horns and shiz * fixed ^_^
So if you think you can do it, then I recomend it.
The connector I was working on controls ignition, steering, windshield wipers, wiper fluid level sensor, sprayer, brake stuff. It’s connector C on the vovlo wiring guide ^_^ easy to find if you go to the CEM page.
But….. if you mess up it could be really bad, but as long as you quadruple check your work you should be fine ( shorts, and sturdyiness on the pins to the pads/landings ) youre goooooood bro ^_^
I’m 27 years old and I mess with electronics as a hobby, nothing serious though. Just thought I’d lend a hand to people who are like stuck with a dead car and not wanting to shovel out a lot of money because they live far away from a volvo dealer or somthing.
The only requirement is that your board works, it can fhrow codes… but it has to turn on lolol. Your CEM should definitely be able to operate.
You can pick up a dead CEM that you can Salvo parts and transplant off of for super cheap. Like 50$ has loads of spare parts. Like a metric ton. I have 2 I can pull from so its nice.
Part transplants like this are somthing they did back in the 70s and 80s. It’s not a thing anymore since there is no electronic repair shops…
but any computer repair shop would probably be able to do this for you no problem tbh. ( you’d need to have this thing figured out to a T and like be able to communicate what you need done too it and probably stripped down to the board <3 ) pro tip. Just be educated before asking someone else to fix something like this. In my case, it would be a pain.
I just decided I had enough stuff laying around and a little skill. Decided to risk the biscuit and I succeeded <3.
Stuff used:
Flux 10$
Lead solder ( whatever sticks best, experiment I have a lot of dof brands and compositions laying around, i just like lead ) 10 $
Weller soldering station ( like 40$ i had )
Fine point tips 5 pack ( 10$)
Solder wick ( just in case )
Contact cleaner ( really does good work also iso people alcohol was used )
Q tips and brushes ( cleaning, just don’t pry on anything… but you can apply a little force to the thing. Nothing abrasive yo, only on bare coper or like to clean a solder job !! ( don’t scratch a solder track ya monky lol ^_^ )
A few tooth picks to like apply chunks of Flux ( I mean you should know how to use it I just had tooth pics. Use whatever lol )
Pretty much the best advice I have, is play with the dead board. Take all kinds of stuff off of it. Get a feel for it.
And then when you think you are done check and then sleep and wake up and check again with fresh eyes after a coffee. Be meticulous.
Develope a method to get your old part off and the new part on without damaging something else ( like my problem was an adjacent connector.. It was real easy to want to bump it and melt it. It would still work, but like still do a good job and stuffs ^_^ your car depends on it xD
** note: I used a little vice thingy I got on Amazon that suctiioned to the desk. It held the unit.
I also had an arm rest so I could get a good angle on my work peice ^_^ pro tips.
Wish you all a good day and a happy driving experience ^_^ <3 much love for my S60
Comment and share thoughts and stuffs. I’m eager to see what you guys think. ^_^