BBA Refurb hasn't worked - Help!
 

Help, I'm stuck!!

Finally got my ETM back from BBA today after being car less for nearly 3 weeks because they had run out of spare parts, but didn't bother to tell me that when I booked the job with them (more details in the "Is this ETM fault" and "ETM - Refurb by Autotek" threads)

Bear in mind that they bench tested the unit and confirmed that it needed new sensors, guess what......IT DOESN'T WORK!!!!!

No instructions came back with the part, but I had read somewhere on here that after fitting it back onto the car, it needs to be left for a few minutes with the ignition on before turning the engine over to allow the cars ECU to recognise the new parts. So I did leave it for around 20 minutes first. It made a high pitch whine for the first few minutes, which went off when I turned the ignition off and now only comes on for several seconds each time the ignition is turned on (although to be fair you can't hear this with the engine running, so it may always have done this, I don't know)

The warning messages already stored on the display didn't go off in this time (or since), these were "Engine system service" and "Engine system service urgent". But when I fired it up, it started ok and ran for about 3 miles to the local supermarket. But when I started it up after coming out of the supermarket, the revs started climbing and it went into limp home mode and I've also now got another warning message "reduced performance".

Unfortunatley, I have switched the engine off and on dozens of times in between driving around in it, but I can't clear it. I could generally clear it by doing this before, so it's probably worse now than before!

I'm dreading phoning BBA tommorow, the woman who seems to be in charge of customer relations seems to get easily offended if there is even a hint that you may be being critical or asking a question that she doesn't know the answer to. In her own words "I'm just trying to be a good go-between between you and purchase". She was pretty curt this morning when I rang to check that the part was definitely on it's way back to me. Bear in mind that there was a c**k up on collection and it was a day late and this morning their online parts tracker only gave a link to the inbound shipping details from 3 weeks ago. I'm going to try extra hard to curb my frustration and be extra friendly, but I need to have a contructive conversation with someone who is technically clued up..............wish me luck!

ps I noticed that the new plastic cap that contains the sensor has been freshly ground away on it's outermost face. I don't know the relevance of this or if anyone else had the same. The only thing that I could think of was that it was to hide a manufacturer's logo?

From my experience, I really can't recommend using BBA, to date it would have been cheaper to go to a main dealer, and I still haven't resolved it yet

the first thing i would suggest doing is getting your codes cleared with volvo software, go for a drive then get them read again u may well have a totally unrelated fault with the car

Feel for ya, mate..and I can see how you must feel about BBA right now.!!!....can imagine just how pi$$ed off you must be..but as already said...get the codes read just in case.!
Hope you get it sorted fast.!...and let us know how you get on.

Neil

That's very worrying!

Im still waiting for mine to turn up.

Phoned them again yesterday for an update and was told they had repaired the ETM..........so I asked them why they had not phoned to tell me of this breaking news!And also why they have not asked me for payment as every time I have phoned them I have offered payment details to try and speed them up!

But for the record.

I am still waiting for it to turnup in the post!

I hope mine works or I will be well cheased off!

Yes, I tried to sort out payment up front in an attempt to speed things up, but they said it was a security issue to do it this way

To be fair to them, it did turn up the day after they repaired it

I'll be really interested to know if yours works Katana Man. Never know, new batch could be faulty sensors?

Just as a matter of interest, they told me that they got the sensors in last off on Wednesday but that it was too late for them to start the job then and would do it Thurs am. They phoned me around 09:15 to say it was done, so it must be a really quick job. Looking at the ETM, it looks like one of the plastic end caps is new. Thus I'm guessing that all they do is screw off the old cap and screw on a new one that's pre-assembled in China containing the new sensor

I phoned BBA this morning and fortunately spoke to one of the guys that seems technically clued up. He genuinely sounded surprised that the unit didn't work and he confirmed that they bench test both before and after the repair. Although again looking at the timescales, with an intermittant fault it may be possible to appear ok on a short test

I told him that I was going to an independant specialist to get codes read etc first. He told me to ring back if necessary to arrange sending it back to them under the 2 year warranty

Unfortunately the 'specialist' was on holiday today, but is back on Monday. He was unofficially recommended by the volvo main dealer has having better diagnostic equipment than them. He reprograms a couple of units a week that people have bought from the wreckers. I did speak to his mechanic today who doesn't think that clearing the codes will help, but it is worth reading them next week. He also said that they suffer alot from air leaks in the system (intercooler in particular on the turbos)

Will keep you posted

im not being funny mate but u have to do it this way to make sure you are getting the correct fault codes and not old stored codes :thumbs_up:

What way is that? do you mean clear them, then read any new ones?

yes clear them but make a note of all the codes, go for a drive maybe even go back 2 days later and get the codes that are on there then, that way u know or at least have an indication of what the problem maybe :thumbs_up:

Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere, but have you ruled out a MAF fault or a vacuum leak?

It's a fair point..I'm sure I've read somehwere before (possibly Matthews Volvo site.?) about the relationship between ETM renewal and MAF failure.?

Neil