Volvo Owners Club Forum - View Single Post - V50 Brakes :

GreatScot1777 · Feb 28th, 2009, 10:01

I had the 'anti skid service required' message and the brakes appeared to be working fine. However taking the car for an ABS test (driving on wet grass and hitting the brakes at a modest speed) immediately led the car to only drive in 'safe mode' up to 30 - 40 mph max. OK on back roads but something of an issue if the ABS was triggered on the motorway!

By getting out of the car locking it, then unlocking it again and restarting this reset the safe mode and the car drove and seemed to brake normally (provided the ABS was not provoked). Looked at by my local Volvo specialist who checked the faults using the usual diagnostics and booked the car in for a new sensor. After fitting this, whilst it cleared down lots of fault codes, this revealed a whole new batch!

Turned out to be the highly complex 'black box' and braking system valve interface with the brake pump. Only sold as a single unit with the pump and a hefty £950 plus fitting and VAT. ( I see the mention of a £1500 repair in the thread above, this is the standard dealer price for the work I had done - just beware trying to do this 'on the cheap' - read on) It is a one and a half hour job to fit and then requires a manufacturers software down load to complete the installation - and my specialist said he could not do the job because of this and I would have to go to a main dealer.

Car was 'under warranty' from a small time dealer who insisted his mechanic would fix it and following 2 months off the road I eventually got the car back. The story was that they got a second hand unit and fitted it - however this completely disabled the car which had to be recovered on a low loader to the nearest Volvo dealer for the software down load to get it to work. Was it cheaper than going to a Volvo dealer who could have done the job in 2 days - probably not in view of all of the grief this caused - except thankfully I did not pay for this repair the small time dealer paid for it all.

Fortunately I have use of a cosmetically challenged R plate V40, worth a fraction of the V50's value, but I would swap its old technology for the "too clever by half" electronics of the V50 any day. You will see my latest post where my V50 is now once more beset by jaw dropping electical issues rendering it unusable - my 4th but worst Volvo for costly repairs/electrical unreliability.

Feb 28th, 2009, 10:01	#9
GreatScot1777 New Member Last Online: May 8th, 2009 10:22 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Rochford	Could be the ABS unit and pump I had the 'anti skid service required' message and the brakes appeared to be working fine. However taking the car for an ABS test (driving on wet grass and hitting the brakes at a modest speed) immediately led the car to only drive in 'safe mode' up to 30 - 40 mph max. OK on back roads but something of an issue if the ABS was triggered on the motorway! By getting out of the car locking it, then unlocking it again and restarting this reset the safe mode and the car drove and seemed to brake normally (provided the ABS was not provoked). Looked at by my local Volvo specialist who checked the faults using the usual diagnostics and booked the car in for a new sensor. After fitting this, whilst it cleared down lots of fault codes, this revealed a whole new batch! Turned out to be the highly complex 'black box' and braking system valve interface with the brake pump. Only sold as a single unit with the pump and a hefty £950 plus fitting and VAT. ( I see the mention of a £1500 repair in the thread above, this is the standard dealer price for the work I had done - just beware trying to do this 'on the cheap' - read on) It is a one and a half hour job to fit and then requires a manufacturers software down load to complete the installation - and my specialist said he could not do the job because of this and I would have to go to a main dealer. Car was 'under warranty' from a small time dealer who insisted his mechanic would fix it and following 2 months off the road I eventually got the car back. The story was that they got a second hand unit and fitted it - however this completely disabled the car which had to be recovered on a low loader to the nearest Volvo dealer for the software down load to get it to work. Was it cheaper than going to a Volvo dealer who could have done the job in 2 days - probably not in view of all of the grief this caused - except thankfully I did not pay for this repair the small time dealer paid for it all. Fortunately I have use of a cosmetically challenged R plate V40, worth a fraction of the V50's value, but I would swap its old technology for the "too clever by half" electronics of the V50 any day. You will see my latest post where my V50 is now once more beset by jaw dropping electical issues rendering it unusable - my 4th but worst Volvo for costly repairs/electrical unreliability.