ETM Sacer replacement made problems worse
 

Hello all,

Looking for advice, I bought a 99 V70 on eBay a few weeks, it looked a little rough around the edges but the paperwork was there to show it had been mechanically cared for and the test drive felt like a car of more than half its age and miles and to be fair I felt it was a bargain (£800) so I bought it and drove home.

Half way back (100 miles) the car went into limp mode was running very rough with revs lurching between 800-1300rpm the dash displayed the ETM & SRS warning lights. I pulled over and phoned the RAC anyway after 20min I tried starting the engine no warning lights no rev jumping so i chanced my arm and it drove the rest of the way faultlessly. The car hadn't done it again over the next 2 weeks of use. So after looking up all the issues around the ETM I opted to change the ETM Sensor (white label) as it seemed a straightforward job that could potentially solve the problem.

I opted for This Sensor Unit and carried out the repair as per the many guides.

Now we hit the disaster, since replacing the sensor the car is now permanently in limp mode and rough idling either the ETM & EML on my basic ODB2 reader is pulling through the following codes:
1620 (P) - Engine coolant temperature signal open / short to B +
1603 - Internal Control Module Malfunction
1610 (P) - SBDS Interactive Codes
1600 (P) - Power Supply (B+) Terminal 15 Low Voltage
1603 (P) - Internal Control Module Malfunction

I'm at a bit of a loss as what to do at this point I've seen various posts about xemodex, however it doesn't like they are still replacing units as they are listed as 'out of stock'. I've also got to balance the fact this was meant to be a budget run around for me and the dog and i only paid £800 for it so i don't want to sink £500+ into one part. it just seems a shame that 1 part can effectively brick the car and leave me with no choice but to break it or sell it for spares.

Is there any other route in the UK i can go down? any companies offering rebuilds/replacements or can i try salvaging a ETM along with a ECU from a car being broken or does that open me up to a world of other issues?

I changed to the Sacer unit on my 2000 P1 V70. It's a bit of a blacksmith job but all went well. Partly cured my problem but the real fault/faults could have been vacuum leaks. Check the ones the come out of the back of the air filter housing and the one that is under the air intake trunking. Follow the ones that enter the right side of the intake manifold. They are close together and one is larger than the other. Air leaks here cause the engine to hunt up and down as the ECU tries to compensate.
I may not have needed the Sacer but it may have been a pre-emptive fix for known problems in this area.