1999 S80 2.9L cutting out at 2000 RPM

clouisiana · Post by **clouisiana** » 28 Jul 2011, 14:20

I am new to Matthew's. I have, however, searched high and low and cannot find an answer to this problem.

This is my daughter's car and I do all of the work on it for her.
1999 Volvo S80 2.9L (non turbo) with 4T65E transmission.

The car has had several things done and repaired lately. Timing belt, water pump, plugs .... so far so good.

As of the last month she has had problems related to what I thought was the transmission shifting improperly.

What is happening is that she puts the car in Drive (D) and drives normally, as she approaches 50 miles per hour the car starts jerking. I took the car for a ride to diagnose and put the transmission into (D) and got the same result. I also shifted into (3) and got the same result. What I noticed is that it cuts out or jerks at 2000 RPM. Then I shifted into (2) and could not replicate the problem. I assume a transmission fluid change with replacing solenoids. But I am also suspecting the Throttle body. Although Volvo tells me the updates are complete and I do have the yellow sticker.

Ideas?

Replacing the transmission fluid makes me nervous as I have not had a lot of good luck with this in the past, especially with a car with 150k miles. Typically the transmission goes down hill fast at that point.

Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom!

groel220 · Post by **groel220** » 31 Jul 2011, 13:09

In terms of the ETM, those certainly go bad, even when replaced by Volvo with the new unit and the updated software. Really the only (mostly) permanent solution for these is to buy a redesigned ETM from Xemodex.

In terms of the transmission, even if it's not the problem I would look into replacing the fluid. If you aren't comfortable replacing the fluid yourself, I would say get it done somewhere, a job like that shouldn't cost too much money, assuming your mechanic isn't a crook. Apparently these transmissions are really the weak point of the drive-train on these cars and doing regular fluid replacement can help ensure that you're not left with a full transmission job on your hands.

clouisiana · Post by **clouisiana** » 08 Aug 2011, 13:31

Thanks for the reply GROEL220! I will do the fluid change. I have done several. Just can't seem to figure out the reason for cutting out. It seems to be getting worse.

Post by **dcarlson12** » 09 Aug 2011, 12:28

If it only happens at 2000 rpm, seems logical it is the ETM i.e. 2000 rpm is approx where my car cruises at highway speed i.e.approx. 60 to 65 mph and thus I suspect the ETM slider to pot surface would get the most wear at that 'spot'.
Can you/she get past the 2000 rpm 'spot'? i.e. do the rpms smoothen out past the 2000 rpm 'spot'?

Hemp4Fuel · Post by **Hemp4Fuel** » 11 Aug 2011, 15:27

My 2000 S70 2.4L is having the EXACT same issue. Around 2000 RPMs it starts jerking back and forth - cutting out, but if its less or more than 2000 RPMs it runs fine... I am not sure how long ago the timing belt was replaced (just purchased the car and it has 218,000Km on it) but I'm wondering if there was anything else I could do to fix this problem. Thanks!

woodyz · Post by **woodyz** » 12 Sep 2011, 15:46

Hi, I am also a new member with a 2001 s80 2.9 with 107,000 miles. My car has the same problem. I took the throttle body off the engine and cleaned it to a shine, but I still had the same problem. I gues its time to replace it. I'm going to order the XEmodeX with the lifetime warranty. My question is should I also replace the MAF sensor? Any help would be great.

Woodyz