My wife started car after shopping and the car immediately went into limp mode. No check engine or ETS lights. Got car home with some effort. Checked Fuel pressure okay. Checked vacuum and Turbo hoses all appear okay, checked spark and coil packs, #3 plug and coil pack questionable, white powder in the coil pack barrel and no spring to be seen. Replaced all plugs and #3 coil pack. Started car remains in limp mode... still no check engine or ETS light. Now suspect the ETM although have not experienced any of the symptoms for gradual ETM failure.
When just ignition turned on hear a whine/hum from the area of the ETM (below the manifold)...when #2 Fuse (accelerator) is pulled the hum stops, starts again and stays on when fuse replaced. My car has had the software recall upgrade from Volvo, not sure what this does to system?
If the ETM is my problem appears the XeModex aftermarket ETM with no moving part throttle position sensor is the way to go.
Any help/advice on definitively diagnosing the ETM appreciated and any comments on the XeModex aftermarket ETM.
Thanks Peter

Our V70 is a 2004 so I'm not sure the diagnostics are the same, but ours set a code when the ETM was bad. It is a generic code so it can be read by any code reader.

Remove the unit. Remove the clips that hold the black cover on. Pull the middle gear out ( ours was not timed in any way). See that the teeth on the small gears are good. If they are worn, you can turn the middle gear half a turn. Gently clean the wipers and contacts. Reinstall cover and clips, reinstall, reset codes, see what happens.

Greg

Both volvo of mine encountered an ETM problems. It started in my 1999 V70XC 2years ago with 140k miles, symptoms are idle goes up in down 900-1200+ rpm but no ETM light. Very sluggish when you push the gas from stop sign but runs normal after it reach highway speed. I did removed, cleaned the dirty ETM and it works a few hundred miles but it went back to the same problem. It's a wasted effort and people should not follow what i did based on others recommendation. Now my 2nd car a 1999 S70 T5, first, I experienced an occasional slight speed drop while on highway speed, then 2 months ago ETM light went on but car still drives normal. I know it's dying so I did remove it send to Xemodex, replaced it with a remanufactured one same as my first car and still enjoying them. I will tell you the xemodex ETM drives my car much better than the original one, my xc doesn't speed search anymore esp. in mountainous area. Both cars are pretty close to 170k and still running strong with proper maintenance.