1999 V70R possible burnt valve?

[j-dawg]

Has the ETM (electronic throttle module) been replaced yet? It is the achilles heel of this car,

i have never understood this sentiment. it seriously held me up when i was considering my 99, until i looked into what it would take to fix.

it's a $500 one-time fix with a xemodex ETM. not cheap, but easy and solved permanently.

just getting a car to stage 0 is $500 worth of parts and potentially labor, and that's only the start of the maintenance and repairs on an old volvo. tires are $500 for a set and have to be changed more often than ETMs. RMS, clutch, suspension rebuilds, a/c evaporators, all of these things cost $500 or more, and some involve tons of labor. so why is the ETM considered the 99-00's achilles' heel?

[kcodyjr]

why is the ETM considered the 99-00's achilles' heel?

The availability of the Xemodex replacement is relatively recent.

In the bad old days, there was only one option: a trip to the stealership for another unit that's guaranteed to fail, followed by a trip to the proctologist for emergency reconstructive surgery.

[erikv11]

...
it's a $500 one-time fix with a xemodex ETM. not cheap, but easy and solved permanently.
...
so why is the ETM considered the 99-00's achilles' heel?

You nailed the key facts. When you buy/sell one of these cars, you have to budget $500 for the ETM if it hasn't been done yet. It is guaranteed to fail. That's all I'm saying. By Achilles' heel I just mean a known weak spot, not something that will bring down the car.

[HWG09]

I actually purchased a Xemodex ETM a couple weeks ago as well as a new MAF sensor. Haven't installed either because of the current issues.

[j-dawg]

You nailed the key facts. When you buy/sell one of these cars, you have to budget $500 for the ETM if it hasn't been done yet. It is guaranteed to fail. That's all I'm saying. By Achilles' heel I just mean a known weak spot, not something that will bring down the car.

that's a fair assessment, but it's far from the only $500 item that needs replacement on a ~100 kilomile schedule (xemodex notwithstanding). again, the cost of tires for that 100k miles probably outweighs the cost of ETM failure by a factor of two, and that's something you'd have to do on any car.

i've seen advice all over the interweb to avoid all 99+ cars because of the ETM, but if you're put off by $500 every 100,000 miles, you're probably not going to have fun with any P80 car. it's not that it's a meaningless cost, or easy to swallow, but i feel that it's made out to be a much worse problem than it is.

anyway, this is way off topic and i get that it's not what you were saying. maybe i just feel compelled to defend the ETM cars because i drive one. i might not be singing the same tune when the ETM fails.

[kcodyjr]

I actually wouldn't mind having an ETM car. The traction control is more robust, and with the Xemodex units, I'm told by sources I trust that it drives better than new. There isn't a non-contact TPS solution for the mechanical throttle cars.

[HWG09]

Looks like the issue is in the bottom end. Leakage is going by the pistons.

I'm completely bummed. I only bought the car in August and the body and interior are in excellent condition. May need an alignment and some bushings.

That being said I appreciate everyone's comments and help on here.

Finally, who wants to come pick it up for $1500? Any takers? I'm in Omaha, NE. I can post pictures once I get the car back but it's Silver with Black leather interior. Like I said the body and the interior are in great shape. Tires are Continental All Seasons and have good tread left. Has a bluetood JVC receiver in it. Approx 110k on it.

FYI, also recently bought a Xemodex ETM unit for the car (thank god I didn't install it). Not sure if they'll let me return but if someone has a similar VIN they can map it too might be worth saving some bucks on shipping to buy mine.

[erikv11]

Ouch. That is a tough one to swallow, I hear you. That crappy oil change may well be the culprit after all. Good luck with the sale, sounds like a very nice car now ready for a replacement engine. Posting pics will help, let everyone see that amazing black interior.

[HWG09]

Yeah, could've been the oil change but I bricked by not calling them back when I had the low oil reading weeks after the service. Either way they'd have to pull the engine out to see what the issue was caused by. Not really worth doing all that.

I'll get pics up hopefully this weekend when I get the car back. FYI, here is the listing from the dealer I bought the car from. So much for "has a lot of life left"

http://www.automaniacinc.com/solddetail.aspx?id=3272925&PrefID=0&.aspx

[socompsp]

if you still have the car in 2 months ill take it.