s80 t6 1999 geartronic etm symtoms ?

[les & reilly]

i am wondering what the symptoms are for a failing etm on a geartronic s80 t6 1999.
i suspect this to be at fault.

any feedback most welcome.

ps i have left the keys in the car overnight and its still sitting there on my drive !!

[MadeInJapan]

ETM on any car that is going bad exhibits sudden surging and sometime lack of boost...seems to happen around the same RPM band- where the mylar preostat has worn down. Check out www.vexedvolvo.org for more information.

[les & reilly]

i did visit that site yesterday and decided to inspect my etm. i also phoned volvo customer relations who told me my etm has NOT had the etm software upgrade, which in the uk is free.

on removing my etm throttle body, i discovered to my amazement there was only half a gasket, allowing a large gap for air leakage. im surprised my engine even started and ran. it was obvious that the air was being sucked through the gap because there was black carbon on most of the throttle body surface.

my guess is, that this may be the cause of only having one forward gear, not being able to exceed 20mph.
i previously repaired a broken wire to the gearbox, and by the looks of things, amongst other things i have found faulty, the person who had the car previous to me did not know what he/she was doing and didnt put it back together properly when trying to find the fault.

i have ordered a new gasket from my dealers, and hopefully i should get it in the morings post.

i will see then if i rectify the fault.

it is not worth me taking it to the dealers for codes to be read, as the cost wouldnt be worth the price of the car.

my local volvo dealer suggested scrapping it by selling off the bits as spares. but i havent given in to it yet.

all going well, if it does put itself right after fitting the new gasket, i will go to my dealers to have the codes read and cleared.

my guess is, if there is a fault in the electronics it will have a knock on effect with the controlling computer.
my dealer also told me there are often "ghost" codes appear so to me it is pretty pointless paying money for codes to be read and still not get to the root cause of the problem

[MadeInJapan]

My suggestion is to keep that "friendship" up between you and the person at the dealer...a few pastries, some lunchtime goodeis, etc. and you don't know what he might offer to do for you "after hours."

This used to work locally for me, until the guy I befriended moved to another dealership (far away).