hello all
are there any owners who's etm failed even after the major software upgrades issued by Volvo in Sept.2003 performed on their car ? did the etm failed even if the scheduled cleaning was done ?

What software, a ECM upgrade? If so, that has nothing to do with your failing ETM. There is also no "scheduled" cleaning per-se. IMHO, cleaning them is a waste of time. I have yet to see one where oil residue or debris was really causing a problem. The units simply fail internally by design, as mentioned below.

cleaning the throttle body helps matters only for a couple of months, but eventually the electronic components will fail. Since the module is part of the trottle body, you need a new unit, and software download to register the new module with the car's ECU to the tune of $1200.

Apparently, the new units are not any better and will fail again around 50k miles. Poor electronic design.

The '02 and newer ETMs appear to be more reliable and less troublesome, but they're still "new" (less than 50k miles), only time will tell.
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'88 240, '92 745, '98 v70 John, Tampa Bay

My boss at work today ( a BMW owner) swore up and down they couldn't fail because they are all potted with some kind of epoxy material to protect them from any kid of vibration, oil, temperature extremes etc. Since I don't hav ethe time or inclination to take it all apart and look inside, I can only recount that an Engineer who once worked for me said the early ECU in a Ford Escort was coated in grease to protect it.
( In the temperatures underhood?)

What's the truth?

Yes they are all coated in epoxy. But this doesn't prevent failure no matter what. It does reduce the likelihood of failure from vibration and liquid contamination bt it can increase the probability of failure through thermal loads. And since imho the likely area of failure is mechanical (throttle position sensors on each end of the spindle) and not electronic then the epoxy resin coatings won't help one bean.

See www.rally-photos.co.uk/volvo/tcm for details on how this thing looks and the problem area...

2002 ETM'S aren't any better, my 2002 V70 had its 1st ETM failure at 15,500 miles and it is getting ready to fail again ( erratic idle/rolling idle)17,000 miles after the orignal one went bad. So, 1st one lasted 15,500 miles 2nd one is acting up with 17,000 miles on it. Doesn't instill much confidence.

Mine on my S60 failed at 45,000 which is about 28,000 miles. Got it replaced under extended "goodwill" warranty (as the warranty in Malaysia is nothing like the ones you guys get over that part of the world - I only had a one year warranty).

volvo started to put Denso ETB in 2003. They are working with ECM directly, no
ETM requirements for seperate sw

Yes... and from the feedback I got, one can anticipate failure every 50,000 miles as well. Not a good thing.