I replaced mine, but not because it was melting like yours. I was having the crankshaft sensor interference issue which was causing very long cranking on my S80. Regardless it was an easy job.

I purchased a new premade 2 gauge cable with 5/16in lugs from this guy on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm ...

Just for anyone who stumbles across this topic searching for info on the P0300 Random Misfire code on a Volvo S80 (or any other P2 platform car), replacing the VVT solenoid seems to have fixed the intermittent code that I've had for months.

The noise is still present, but I've driven the car about ...

Update on the sound: Changed the intake VVT solenoid to a different tested one from a much younger Volvo and ... no change at all. The sound still happens while under load and sweeping through the RPM range, like a really fast volley -- T-T-T-T-T-TICK.

Kind of at a loss again.

oragex wrote:Hopefully it didn't last longer

Yikes! I'll look into the CVVT solenoid, this is the first time I've heard of it.

I wonder if there's anything I could see with my boroscope camera to check whether damage has been done. I suspect not; a compression test is probably the way to go.

I took a trip out west this month with my 1999 S80 2.9L and noticed that while driving up mountain passes there were certain points where the engine would suddenly make a sound like ball bearings bouncing around a paint can. It was always at part throttle in second or third gear and increasing or ...