I read with great interest the ETS/Safety threads on this forum yesterday. I am new to the forum. I own a 1999 S70 which has 91,000km on it. It came out of warranty about 4 months ago. Since then we have had $3000 worth of repairs performed on the car. This on a car that never missed it's scheduled maintenance, had all work done at the original dealership and was quite honestly "babied" it's entire life. Repairs include tie rods, both front calipers (rotors and pads of course all around) and now the ETM module.

I'm hoping you folks can help me with the following questions :

1. Should I be expecting any other huge repairs around this stage in the cars life? (aka should I sell it and buy a new car)

2. Does anyone know if the new ETM Module Volvo installs as replacements is different from the old one? If yes, is there anyway to find out if it was changed due to the frequency of replacement of the original ETM Module? (aka a known issue within Volvo)

3. Has everyone who experienced this issue filed a complaint with Volvo (as I have done)? My understanding from Volvo is that if enough complaints are filed and a trend is identified a service bulletin or defect may be issued.

Thanks to anyone/everyone who can help me out.....

Hello.

Sorry to hear about your repair bill.

I bought my 1998 S70 used with 62000 miles and now have over 125000 miles on it.

The most i spent on it was on an a/c condensor unit which was broken when i bought it.

Brakes etc are standard repairs. Unless the car was driven on really bad roads i dont think you would have had to replace the ball joints.

The ETM issue is a common one with all kinds of Volvos. S80 V70 etc.

From what i have heard Volvo is not very good at issuing service calls. They dont feel like they need to pay for a costly repair on any part that goes bad very often!!! Case in point, the ABS/TRACS module that goes bad on 850 and all 70 series models.

If you have spent so much money repairing it, i would suggest keep it!. Considering the car has had all of the services done on a regular basis. My volvo (knock on wood) is giving me good service so far. I expect to run it atleast until 200,000 miles maybe more.

Plus you probably wont get back what you put into the car on repairs and still sell it for a decent profit.

Here is what i have repaired on mine including service

1: New pads/rotors/calipers in the front. Rotors and pads on the rear

2: Blower motor capcitor died twice. Fan would only blow air on high.

3: ABS/TRACS module is going bad. $600 repair. Watch out for that one!!!

4: Timing belt and tune ups.

5: Replaced shocks and struts and they were showing signs of leaking.

6: Trans service

Only item that was out of the odinary (so far) the blower motor.

Good luck!