XeMODeX ETM- Who has had it done?

[money saver]

moneysaver

It has been a few weeks since you last posted. Has the replacement ETM been installed and how are the results?? I am having similar problems and am debating between going to Volvo, or going to XeModex. Thanks for your posts and updates.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Sorry I haven't responded to your email. After having no luck getting my ETM repaired correctly, I decided to purchase a reliable vehicle. The hassle and back and forth between my mechanic and XEMedex was too much. In addition, I still needed transportation to get around and couldn't keep incurring expenses. I'm sure you've made a decision by now, but want to post a reply for anyone else contemplating repairing their ETM.

I read "lakemans" (Jody) reply directly below yours and it appears that the she had the same problem as me. This will be my last post on this site as I no longer own a Volvo.

money saver

[Kirby J]

Its been about three weeks. Here's my report.
4 days after my previous post, the ETS light comes on again, motor races up and my wife is unhappy. The next day I call Xemodex. They immediately overnight a second TB. It arrives the next day. I install it-all is well until later that afternoon when the motor revs, then goes into Limp mode. Of course my wife is driving, and she is not happy. The next day I go get the car. It starts and runs fine. Calls go to Xemodex, Chris outlines a course of action. He wants codes. But if the car is driving well, there are no applicable codes. The next day, I decide to go ahead and have the oil changed, and 5 miles from the house the car goes into limp mode with me driving. I am 10 blocks from Auto-Zone, so I limp there. This time, with the car exhibiting symptoms, they pull the following codes: P1043, P1052, P0130 (O2 Sensor) P1017, P1019, P1020, P1021. The car and I limp home. My wife is somewhat happy that this finally happened to ME. I call Chris at Xemodex and give him the codes. An hour later he calls back, and says to replace the main engine relay and the air pump relay. I call DWVolvo in Franklin TN, parts are ordered, mailed to my house 4 days later. ( total cost for both relays and shipping $47.00) Installed the relays in under 1 minute. Car runs great. No ETS light, No Limp mode, no calls from irate wife. A couple of days later, I get a call from Chris at Xemodex. He wanted to be sure my problem was solved. I told him it was, and shipped 2 throttle bodies back to him, my original old one AND the second unit he sent. And now, if my wife is unhappy, its not about the car.

Moral of this story: Sometimes, its not the throttle body. But someday it will be. Preventative maintenance is a good idea!
Kirby J

[georgevich]

Hi, I have 2001 V70XC with 109000. Started getting the tell tale stumbling at light throttle. Also would get some intermittent stumbling at slow take offs and it was hard to give it a slow start like when trying to move around in the driveway. It would also surge occasionally after braking. I called Xemodex and gave them the VIN. I ordered UPS 3 day and it showed a day early. Installed the new throttle body and all went away instantly. It drives like a new car.

On a side note, I installed the heavy duty TCV that IPD sells. I actually built mine. The valve is available from Grainger. Look around the web and you'll find a link. The perfomance difference is amazing.

[GmanIV]

I bought a 1999 V70 GLT Wagon 2 weeks ago, it has 130,000 miles on it and it the ETS light was on and thus started me doing the googling to see what it was. Once I found out it was a design flaw, I thought "ofcourse!, I just had to buy the bad one!" I was gonna resell the car had it not been for the XeMODeX ETM. I am using this car for my route and put 350 miles a day on it (mostly highway). Although my V70 showed NO signs at all of the ETM going bad or acting up (except possibly at a stop light then I go and there at times was a ever so slight surge), but anyhow, I figured it was kinda like driving with the original Timing Belt and its at 100,000 miles, you know you're on borrowed time. I am one for the permament fix and was glad I found this forum and the XeMODeX ETM! I ordered it monday night and it arrived this friday. I put it on a few hours later. It took me 3 hours to get the old one off and the new ETM on. Wasn't a horribly bad job, but I wouldn't want to do it again. The old ETM was a Yellow stickered one, a tad oily but didnt seem in too bad of shape. One bolt on the ETM was pain to get off (the inner most front bolt) I didnt bother to put it back on the new one, so it has just 3 bolts holding it in place, i figured it's sturdy enough. Ofcrourse the plug for the ETM was routed behind that brace and couldnt get it out unless I unbolted it and jerked the brace out a tad with the end of a hammer. Puttting it back in was easier than getting it out. The air tube that connects to the ETM, luckily I was able to just shake it lose, what a pain that wouda been had it been stuck on there good, but putting it back on, I tightened it up real good. I started the car up, idled nice, so I took it for a cruise. I said before the ETM on it showed no signs at all of going bad (I just knew it would sooner or later) but this new XeMODeX ETM really seemed to run smoother! Nice smooth acceleration, really great. I am glad they make this ETM and I recommend it to anyone who wants the right fix to this ETM problem and who wants to keep their Volvo for years to come.
Thanks everyone at XeMODeX.........you guys are the best!
Quick Update: I have driven the car now for almost 7000 miles and it's running great! No Problems at all. It's a keeper.

[Rob3]

'99 V70 non-turbo
≈ 120K
Second ETM (Yellow) Dealer did Software and ETM at same time (≈ 95K?)

My symptoms were at medium and heavy throttle. It would loose power unexpectedly, downshift unexpectedly, power would return unexpectedly. All of this happened rather quickly and randomly.

This started happening about 6 hours from home with the wife and mother-in-law in the car as I was trying to enter a busy freeway. My wife started screaming at me: "What's wrong with you!" My mother-in-law asked gruffly: "Do you always drive like this?"

The day before, the Cruise Control just shut Off unexpectedly. I had to restart the engine to restore it. At the time, I didn't know what would have caused it, but now I think it was caused by the ETM problem.

Luckily, the car ran OK with gentle throttle, so I was able to drive home. The ETS Light never came On until I started the car the next day.

I ordered an ETM from Xemodex. It was shipped to me via UPS Ground by mistake. It arrived over a week later with a $25 "Broker Fee" from UPS for bringing it into the US.

I installed the ETM and started the Car. It idled fine. I stepped on the gas a few times and it was responsive. I did not drive the car. I shut it down for the night. The next day, I started the car to drive to work. It raced up to ≈ 2.8K and sounded awful. I restarted the Car a few times, but it was the same. I feared the car was damaged.

I reinstalled the old ETM and the Car ran as before, fine at gentle throttle. (I was so glad I hadn't sent the Old ETM back yet.)

I received a Second ETM from Xemodex. Shipping went fine this time.

I installed it and started the Car. It raced to ≈ 3K and slowly dropped to ≈ 1K. It sounded awful and was not driveable. I reinstalled the Old ETM once again.

I set an appointment with the Dealer to reprogram the Second ETM.

After work, I bought a New Gasket and installed the Second ETM in the Dealers Parking Lot. It took about 15 minutes. The Car sounded awful.

At first, the Dealer refused to program the ETM, but with persistence, they finally agreed to program it. It took them 3 hours while I waited.

Now my Car runs great at all Throttle Positions. It has been running great for over a month. Cruise Control has been fine, too.

It cost me $180 for the Programming. Xemodex refunded me $100 for Programming, $25 for the "Broker Fee" and $100 Core Charge.

This transaction did not go as smoothly as I had hoped, but it was worth the Trouble.

[matthew1]

It cost me $180 for the Programming. Xemodex refunded me $100 for Programming, $25 for the "Broker Fee" and $100 Core Charge.

I don't have any skin in the ETM game. XemodeX doesn't advertise here, I have no interest in them save for 1. they help Volvo owners and 2. I've spoken to Don a few times and he's a fellow Coloradoan, and I respect him (he's involved in XemodeX to some degree).

That said, they're good people. They seem to take the high road with customers, like they want to continue to build a well respected company.

[my3rdvolvo]

Vehicle: S70 GLT
Year: 199
current Mileage: 116,000
In Service Date: 1999
ETM sticker color: White
ETM replaced? N

After encountering limp-home mode 3-4 times in 2 months (leaving no codes, ETS light once then disappear), I ordered a new XeMODeX ETM and had a local Volvo specialist install it. I also replaced MAF before the ETM replacement.

I was quite happy to see a smoother and more responsive engine with the new ETM until another limp-home mode came 2 weeks after the new ETM installation. This time, I was able to retrieve a code, P-0300. After letting the car cool down for a few hours I was able to drive the car home. The car ran well as if nothing ever happened.

I contacted Chris of XeMODeX and he suggested that "Code P-0300 is for multiple engine misfire, meaning that one or more cylinders are not working correctly. This is normally caused by bad spark plug/s, ignition coils or engine vacuum leak. Double check your ETM installation it could be possible that one of the hoses popped off. Bad ETM will not set misfire codes. "

I took the car back to the Volvo specialist and found ECM-3502 (misfiring), ECM-3512 (misfiring cylinder #1), ECM-3522 (misfiring cylinder #2). Chris's assessment is right on. After replacing ignition coils of cylinders 1/2 and 4 new Volvo spark plugs, the engine becomes even more powerful.

I hope this will finally fix the limp-home problem of my car. Although my car problem might or might not be directly caused by a bad ETM, replacing a new ETM certainly make the car run better.

[Loi]

Hmm, do any of you have instructions on how to take out the ETM* or know of one for a 00' S70?

Nvm, found it.

[IAS-S70]

Hai,
Somebody pls help me, since my ETS light comes out on my S70 2.0T year 2000, I am interested to buy xemodex etm and send email to xemodex 2 times but they're not reply. Is it xemodex company are not entertain buyers from Malaysia. Thanks in advance.

[phil_12345]

Vehicle Info:
- V70 GLT (year 2000)
- Around 130,000 miles.
- ETM already replace once by dealer under extended warrantee (yellow sticker).

"Reduced performance" mode kicked in at least two times a day while driving on the highway to work - very nerve wreaking !!!.

Found out about XeMODeX on this forum, and fortunately they located only around 20 minutes from my house. I ordered one ETM from them and pick it up myself the next day (save time and shipping cost). 1.5 hour or so to take out the old ETM and to install the new one myself. XeMODeX's ETM work like a charm - no hickup or what ever !!! It WORKS and I am a very happy camper !!! Total cost around $550 CAN for the ETM + cost of 6 beers while doing the work.

Installation note:
- Use a piece of very fine sand paper to clean the area of the intake manifold where the new ETM going to install to minimize air leakage.
- Put some gasket sealer on both side of the new gasket(s) prior to installation. Again, to minimize air leakage.


Highly recommend !!!