Would it be too late to add a question?
Would it be too late to add a question? I think it might be relevant to know whether the cars were turbo or non-turbo. Apparently, one of the hypotheses of failure cause involves pressure that would affect turbos, but not non-turbos. Collecting some data on this would shed light on this hypothesis.
Shane
I'm the 1 "no failure" at 80k plus BUT...
There should be a catagory for "ETS Light Came On but Was Fixed by Cleaning".
My ETS light came on at about 71k about a month after I had purchased it used. It showed NO performance issues unlike most others who have experienced serious performance issues along with the light coming on. I took it back to the guy I bought it from (and independent Volvo only mechanic and dealer) and he did a cleaning of the throttle body. (It is the original body - not replaced by pervious owner). I also have all the history and no problem prior to this event. That was about 14 months and 14k miles ago and so far so good. However I have little doubt that it is in my future. In my case however it was an issue of cleaning the body not replacing and I am currently at 86k. So I have to vote that there has been no "failure" at this point and I am over 80k. I just hope I don't change catagories soon!!
Previous owner paid the price
Bought my '99 at 73k miles, and had an independent Volvo tech note that the ETM had been replaced, as indicated by the yellow sticker on it. Contacted the previous owner, who confirmed replacement in 2004 somewhere between 52k and 73k miles. The cost of replacement was one of their reasons for selling the car, as the expense of ownership was not what they were expecting from their first Volvo. They also replaced the radiator and water pump, as major items.
Guess I've dodged this bullet at this time, but I'll have to be prepared for an future recurrence, as component failure based on poor design is a "when" instead of an "if".
I wonder if I will have the same problems with the ABS unit, as it too has been reported on other forums to be prone to failures. :confused:
Thanks to Don Wilson for keeping this effort going! And everyone else who is supporting the effort through their contributions!
Finally Died Two Weeks Ago!
My ETM was causing rough idle for more than one year. I left the car with my parents two weeks ago while they were watching my two young children so they could be driven around in our 'safest' vehicle. It died on them. The car had just over 70K miles but Volvo worked out a deal where I paid for the cleaning (around $300) and they put in a new part (under warranty). I was happy to save $700 from what it would have cost. And now I've found out how widespread this problem is and I feel like I'm just waiting for the ETM to fail again. The first signs of failure happened sometime around 50K miles -- maybe as early as 45K or possibly as late as 55K. Just in the past few months it's had trouble starting. It would occasionally die once and then always start the second time. I hope we can push Volvo to reimburse everyone for their past and future expenses related to this DESIGN DEFECT which is causing a serious SAFETY concern. This part need to be re-designed, hopefully before someone is injured or worse!
My XC does not live up to the VOLVO quality rep...
My throttle body started to fail in the 60k mile range. It would stutter on the freeway and the dash light would come on. I was told twice (and repaired) that the problem was a faulty O2 sensor. My XC completely failed, stalling during my commute home from work ini heavy holiday traffic on a dark, rainy, November night with my sweet 2 yr old in the car. Quite frightening. After a few moments, I was able to limp off the road. I paid for the repair (1000.) although the dealer was kind enough to give me a no cost loaner. The shop that performs the normal maintenance on my car could not replace the throttle body because of the programming requirement but they did comment that they thought it was odd that the local VOLVO dealer had 8 or 9 throttle bodies in stock. "A large number for such and expensive and random part."
BTW, my XC is a Turbo, I live in the Seattle area (so fairly mild temperatures). I have always used premium gas too.
Take all this with a gain of salt
None of these "polls" are representative of anything other than a small cross section of those on this board and that is a very small % of all Volvo XC owners. However, there is little question that the ETM issue is a very wide spread one with 99-01 XCs but I doubt that this poll is indicative of the true % or even close. For example Acura has issued a transmission recall on the second gen TLs (99-03) for a problem that is widely reported on their boards and that Acura estimates impacts close to 10% of all vehicles. They still issued a recall and are fixing or replacing transmission on this very popular and numerous vehicle. 10% failure or problem rate is a very high one for such a component. In addition Acura is upping the power train warrenty to 100k. Nice job Acura. Live and learn Volvo. It's not the fact that engineers make mistakes...it's how the manufacturer handles it that counts. It doesn't have to be a 30-40-50+% failure or problem rate.
While this poll is interesting it is reflective of those who are experiencing problems. Those that don't are off going to the movies or playing with thier kids and not worrying about ETMs. Non the less....Volvo...ignore this at your peril. Toyota and Honda are eating your lunch with service and customer care as well as well engineered cars. I have owned Volvos since 1989 with pride and love. I want to continue to do so.....SO GET OFF YOUR DUFF AND RECALL THE 99-01 ETMs and make it right. You know enough with or without these polls to know you have an issue that demands such a recall.
mine went at around 80K. the car was driven quite a bit so it failed in year 3.
to all who question the validity of the sample, please keep in mind that this year (2005) should be a banner year for failures simply becasue all of the cars are easing up on their 80K mark. there are other facts that seem to indicate that volvo has known about this problem for a long time but hoped that vehicles, like mine would be ouit of warranty went the etm failed. i know for a fact that every dealer that i contacted for repair had the etm on the shelf. this is pretty interesting considering the cost of the part. this tells me that they all have replaced their fair share of the part.
now consider this. the system it replaced (mechanical throttle) would last for the life of the car. as a matter of fact, the only failures of cable systems are cable breakage or maybe throttle plate shaft bushing wear. moreover, the etm is hideously expensive to replace and requires a program change. the whole system is just bs and not in keeping with a car company that made its reputation on reliability.