Volvo S70-V70 Abs Module
Having a problem with Abs and Traction control is not a rarity on a V70/S70 Volvo. It is a common and expensive problem caused mostly by the Abs Module. The right way to fix this is to get a new one put in. It does not come cheap though, it’s over $400 for a new one and around $200 to rebuilt it .
Is there a way to go around it? Yes, there is(sometimes). I tried this”unorthodox repair” on a 1998 V70 and it worked. Actually it’s still working 13 months later. It’s cheap and it required 15min of my time. Abs Module is located on the left side of engine compartment under the fuse box. Good news is…you don’t have to remove it at all.
The whole idea consist on putting some space between Abs pump and the Module. It can be done with almost everything: wood, cardboard, plastic. In my case I used a scrap piece of plastic.
Take the spacer and push it between the pump and the module. Make sure it stays tight and won’t fall while driving.
There we go..no Abs and Tracks light anymore and it’s working fine.
I tried this method on 3 different Volvo’s with the same problem and it worked fine on 2 of them. No guaranties though but you lose nothing by trying it anyway.
Comments (218)
That’s exactly what my c70 does. You have to really press on the gas to get the car to even crawl. Not so bad if you’re already at high speeds, but from a complete stop, it sounds like your engine wants to jump out of the hood just to get it up to cruising speeds.
Also, I experience the same symptoms as you described. Speedometer…useless. Dashes on odometer. Flashing up arrow. ABS and TRAC light on. It can be pretty scary.
hay this trick really works ive been dealing with volvos for years (buying and selling) and have neve heard of this and trust me when i say i know some tricks of the trade thank u so much o and it worked like a charm on my 99 c70 conv. befor this was like a 500 plus fix for me thanks for the insight much obliged
So my abs/tracs light came on just before I was going to get my car inspected. I have a 98 awd R with 3″ straight pipe. To avoid having the CEL light on all the time I wired it into my abs light so with the key in not running my CEL light turns on. So when my abs light came on so did the CEL. I took a piece of plastic from a maglight package and zip tied it in place. This totally works!!! The ABS/tracs light went out!! Thanks for the post, totally saved me from failing my inspection!!
I used a Popsicle stick. Light went of before I got to the end of the street. can you give advice about my wife as well?
I can’t thank you enough for this amazing fix. I have a 1998 S70 t5 which I love, but I’m no mechanic.
I cut two old credit cards in half, and wrapped a strip of duct tape around the four halves, then shoved them as instructed. ABS and Tracs warning lights went off as soon as I backed out onto the street.
The brakes never worked better!
WOW, took 2 seconds to put in this AM…used a piece of plastic ruler and rewards card…I cannot believe it because usually pulling out of my driveway the arrow starts blinking and the gas/gears act funny…I have to downshift to get going…anyway, no problems!!! IT WORKED, cannot believe it to tell you the truth!!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!
Any idea when the timing belt is going to go….putting this off as long as possible?
Rob and Hoopla,
My son has a 2000 S70 GLT, and his car had the “lack of acceleration” problem that you described. Turned out that the throttle body needed to be replaced. Purchased an aftermarket unit and that fixed.the problem. This is related to all throttle problems Volvo had with cars of that time.
Scott
Hey, just tried your idea, used a clothes pin and WOW, success. No ABS light. Only problem I had was the picture didn’t match my 2001 V70and it took me few minutes to figure out where to put the shim. But no fault of yours, just mine. Will keep you posted, thanks a million or should I say $600!!!! K
Worked on my 2000 xc! Speedometer, odometer, cruise control, miles per gallon, miles till empty all work now. Flashing arrow gone, all lights out except check engine light. No more push on the gas and go nowhere problem!
worked like a charm on my wife’s 98 S70. Thanks for saving us $$$.
I used FadedKnight’s cut-up credit card method with a 1999 S70 T5-R from USA now in Spain. Amazing, it worked! I am so stunned I felt compelled to make a donation, a rare event. We had three different garages try their luck to no avail, the computer codes suggested unrelated problems. Our trick on the occasions when the ABS was working (for example on a hot day with the fan running, I guess the metal expands and improves the contacts) – was to keep an eye out for that brake light to come on – and when it did, hoot the horn for a several seconds (this has to be done before the speedometer cuts out). It would work for a while, but not ideal scaring other drivers/pedestrians!
tried it on my s70awd and works like brand new… Thanks for the tip
@Bobby Kippers thank’s for the donation 🙂
My mechanic just installed my rebuilt abs and they said 50 codes came up; they were told to drive the vehicle and that would reset the abs, anyone have this same experience
Amazing it works wonderfully.
Many Thanks from France
I was very skeptical and crap it actually worked. I have been fighting with this light for a year now and I keep getting the 800.00 run around..I used a piece of plastic and it worked..thanks for the info..
by the way once I added the plastic in its place I tried the TRACS button in the dash and it now turns on and off like normal..so it appears everything is working like normal..
Hey, I am really dumb when it comes to finding things under the hood. I need some help locating exactly where the picture is showing… I know they are there but like I said.. Im dumb and can’t find them. I have a 1998 Volvo S70 t5.. Please help.
Nevermind on my previos post, I brought my comp out with me and looked more directly under the hood. Found it no problem and am going to try this out to see if it works.. Hopefully this does because winter is coming and I need to be able to stop.
hi i tried to put all difrent things plastick spoon pnecil credit card peace of plastick but they all did not work, could it be a problem some were els in the abs that is making the lights go on?
Incredible! I couldn’t believe this would work but a put a coin between the module and the pump and after driving a few meters both ABS and TRACS light swichted off!
Everything goes right now.
Thanks so much!
Jazzy, happy owner of a Volvo C70 T5 240hp
I have been riding around with these lights on for about a year. My trans would get stuck in 3 gear until i would shut car off. I put a piece of metal where the picture shows and it worked great. Thank you so much. I was going to trade the 2000 v70 volvo in but now i am going to keep it.
THIS IS JUST A BANDAID FIX !!!
You are at serious risk of ABS failure doing this.
I’m not talking about the sky falling, but this is
only a roadside emergency type of solution.
Your ABS is a critical safety system. Fix it correctly.
Just jamming a shim next to the connector won’t last.
Have your module resoldered and actually repaired.
If you can solder, you can even do it yourself!
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12651
PLEASE – Fix your ABS, for your own safety and others.
You are a genius! I have taken my Volvo to 3 different people and they each told me different things and quoted me between $1000-$3500. I knew it was something like this because it would flicker on and off as I went over a bump. Also when they scanned the car their was no ABS fault or errors. Thanks so much for posting this information it was brilliant. Im a woman and it was an easy fix!
98 S70 T5. Used a wedged paint stir stick (plastic). First used the thinnest end and it did not work. Broke it off to get more of the wedge involved (thicker part of the stick) and it worked! Had just got a quote for $500 to fix. This may be a band-aid, according to one person, but it works and if the module breaks later, well…it was already broken right?
Thank you very much!
You are the man :)! I had already removed my ABS module to send for repare and after reading your tip and the successful experience comments. I put back my module and did the trick.
At first it did’t work, so I took it for a small drive and came back home while the ABS light was still on. I turnrd the engine off and started it again…. Masha’Allah The ABS light was gone.
Many thanks.
thank you so much for the tip! It worked on a 1999 V70. ABS light off, a couple of other trouble lights off, and speedometer works great! Now to fix the automatic transmission. (g)
Hey just wanted to say thank you, just bought a 98 c70 couple the last problem I was facing was the abs light/trac light 22 yr ase certified tech. So I am always looking for a quick cheap fix. The wedge fix is priceless. I will pass it along, aswell as you site. Will be donating to keep the charity going forward.
Worked on my 99 S70, thanks for the tip, but why does it work? Inquiring minds want to know.
Dang! That is amazing! Worked on my S70 T5 (Old coffee card)
I repair Volvo ABS modules, usually about 100+ a month.
I generally see at least two units a month physically burned up by shimming them, and I’m not the only person in the world that repairs them.
The harness that everybody here is shimming is the DATA harness. wheel sensor communications go through this harness as well as the power to the ABS module itself, that will flow up to 30 amps before the fuse blows. 30 amps will cause a ton of damage. By shimming, you are causing resistance. Resistance causes heat, heat burns things. Typically you’ll just burn up your module and the harness that plugs into it. Burn up as in melt. Plastic that melts will catch fire if enough heat is present.
It doesn’t matter if you DIY or send it out to get fixed. The fact of the matter is you don’t shim anything on any modern car that has the ability to consume that amount of amperage. The liability issue alone would be enough to sway most from “shimming” something like this.
The circuit board is where the problem lies, connections between the plug and the circuit board are made with what are called cold solder joints. These joints over time, break and lose connection, which in turn cause the ABS light to come on. By placing a shim between the plug and the ABS pump body you are actually bending the circuit board and reconnecting the broken joints which, in turn shut off the ABS light. NO “Resistance” causes “heat”, heat “burns” things so far.
what is the downside of the trick of putting a plastic btw the plug and the pump body. will it damage the car over time?
Woah! Totally worked! I pulled this lil gem out whilst at the Volvo dealership when the service manager handed me a bill for almost $1200!!! I had and old credit card, bent it up, shoved it off in between the two boxes (after I had HIM identify the right ones), cranked this bitch up, and voila! No lights!!! Suckas!!!!!!!
Hi there, I do the scantool work at a garage locally and have a customer with a 1998 Volvo V70 which does the “Speedo Drop,Brake warning light (!),ABS as well as transmission up arrow and SRS lights dance”.
All errors spewed talk of powertrain parts so kept looking for loose sockets/connections on the automatic transmission side. Have just seen this late today.
Going to try the wedge trick for a one day 500km trip and if we have no gremlins return, will take the part off for proper fixing (Instructions seem clear enough here
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12651
Hi Fellas!
I am really in need of some sound advice (and from a real Volvo expert and not some guy at O’Reilly’s who just wants to get in my pants…).
Ok- I bought my 2000 Volvo S70 SE last year as a way to eliminate car payments so I could pay off my student loans for awhile. It was either buy this junk or get on a pole… And mama didn’t raise a pole dancer…
So here I am, one year later, with a car that is so tempramental I’m wondering which one of us is the real bitch here. About 6 months ago the ABS and Check Engine lights would come on every now and again, but usually, they would just come on briefly. About two months ago they just stayed on. The car started to shake pretty bad if I was stalled at a light and would kinda jerk when I gave it some gas. I took it to my local dealership and there were a lot of signals that were coming back to them when they hooked it up to the computer, so they cleared it out so that they could identify exactly what was wrong. Two weeks later the ABS light and Check engine light came back on, and they explained that I needed a new ASB Control Module – which would cost me close to $2k. The damn car is only worth $3200. I googled ABS Control Module and did exactly what you said. It was running much better for about two more weeks, but now my car is really acting PMS’y.
Now, the car barely wants to start, and really whines before it decides to actually ignite. I sometimes have to push the gas to rev it up a bit. Three times it has stopped while I was driving (like from a stop position) and just died in the middle of the intersection. I have to shut it off and start it again. Today – and this is the scary part- it seemed like it didn’t want to brake when I hit the brakes and then I smelled a strong gas odor. She sputtered and sputtered until I put her in park and once it was in park I saw the gauge on the transmission thing go from 1 to 8 — AND I WAS IN PARK WITH NO FEET ON ANY PEDALS! After I came back from my appointment, she started up fine. The trouble is, the damn car started shaking again just as I was pulling into my driveway. I called a buddy of mine who suggested it may be a throttle body issue – but from my research – that has nothing to do with the ABS stuff.
I know it sounds like my poor little car is a piece of $#!t, but it’s mine — and she’s all I got. Until I get squared away with ole Sallie Mae, I really want to preserve her. I like my car and she looks pretty good — but as you men know — there are a lot of hot girls out here with messed up insides, and my poor Volvo is one of them.
PLEASE HELP!!! I just need to know what to expect or how I can do this myself. I’m a broke, recently graduated young woman and Im surrounded my incompetent men who know nothing about cars – especially Volvos. Any ideas are appreciated!! 🙂
How ’bout those seven digits first? 😉
@vivica, it looks like your electronic throttle module ETM is faulty.
I just picked up a 2001 C70 and what a surprise, the speedo drops and the Brake/ABS lights come on. I plan to have the module repaired but it looks like your fix will get me through the weekend. Thank you.
Splendid Alternative to fixing this problem. I just tried with a plastic card and it’s working from couple of days and hopeful for future days. Thanks a lot for your help
Sorry to appear thick……….. but I’m struggling to see where I need to put my bit of plastic / metal / anything else.
Can someone give me additional info / pictures please.
Do I need to slacken something off so that I can insert the plastic ????
when i lock my car the back drivers side wont lock also the boot u can here it trying to lock ive also got new battery in the fob
Amazing! It really works!! Fixed my 1999 V70. I was going to pull the module and send it off to be re-soldered. Thanks much.
You are the man.Took me about half a minute. Problem has been haunting me for 6 months. Tried cleaning the abs sensor, the transmission control module, fuses, etc. This is good because there is nothing wrong with the break system nor the transmission, but it would cause the speedometer to not work and the transmission to go into limp mode for no reason. This fix is awesome!!! Thank you so much for posting this. P.S. I bet the one car that it did not work on for you probably did have an actual brake system or transmission problem. But this is an excellent fix for Volvo’s that don’t have a problem
Brilliant, thank u very much!!!
It’s worked on my Volvo V70 99, i saved over $700. Thanks so much. God bless you!
Just did this trick on my 98 S70GLT with 240K miles on the clock. Worked. Thanks for this trick.
I have already replace the unit once, so this was certainly cost saving. On my wife’s 98ML320, the ABS lights also came on, based on posts, i removed the unit opened it and indeed found bad solder joints at the power connections. Re soldered and works great. As the units are similar I suspect it is simply bad solder joints, and the insert causes some side pressure resulting in better contact. Maybe not permanent, but if it fails lights come on and tell you.
I still have my old unit, going to open it and repair, now that I better understand the problem.
Thanks again for the great post. Oh what did I use, well had a small credit card size ice scrapper sitting in the car, works slick !!!, took me all of what 20 seconds 🙂
It worked on my 1999 Volvo V70, took me 1 min, used two expired credit cards, $10 donate to you, have a beer, its hot outside.
Jim
I did put the shim and seems to work, the ABS, Brake and TRAC alerts disappeared.
I have a 2000 S70, had the problem of ABS, brake and Traction control lights coming on and off, speedometer would not work for a month. Today I put a plastic card between the pump and the ABS module area as shown in the pictures.
I drove about 20 miles, no more warning lights! Looks like it is working.
I just can’t believe it.
Thank you so much!
WOW, thank you. 2 minutes and the speedometer works, ABS light went off, and the odometer works too.
I can’t believe it really works!!! I’ve been dealing with this problem for a while I didn’t think that this was possible. But guess what it worked! I don’t care what some people say, this works for me !!!! thanks very much! I’m donating
Great, here in Volvo land, it works in most cases.
I’ll give this a go. I am a little concerned about the comments of heat and how this fix could cause further damage…but what the hay.
is there anyone knows any steps to fix ABS problem for S60 2004 model, is soldering can fix it same as the older model
Please reply
I have the same prb with my volvo and want to make it work with the credit card. I followed your discussion but I still didn’t understand where exactly to insert the card.
Please can you be more specific?
Did any of the plastic fix, melted from the engine heat? I need to do this fix but I want know of the credit cards will melt.
Worked like a charm with 4 wooden coffee stir sticks. Question: is the module still working or just disconnected and will my care still pass Air Care? Will their detectors show that something has been tampered with?
So glad I found this possible fix and all the posts attesting to its effectiveness. I have a 99 S70 (118k miles, runs great other than this problem) with this problem – ABS and Check Engine lights go on, as does the Shift Up arrow light. Worse, the car someties fails to accelerate properly from a standing stop. Finally, the speedo goes to zero for no reason at highway speeds. I checked with a local (Northern VA) Volvo mechanic, who told me the ABS Module needs to be replaced, at a cost of about $1,200. For a car with a KBB/NADA value around $2,800, replacing the ABS Module makes little sense. The mechanic explained that the faulty ABS Module is likely causing all the problems, including the speedo and the poor acceleration. A faulty ABS Module can lead to the speedo sensors at each wheel not detecting wheel speed, which causes the speedo to go to 0. If that happens, then the transmission doesn’t know you’ve slowed to a stop and it doesn’t downshift properly. So from a standing stop, you may be in 3rd or 4th gear instead of 1st. You have to floor it to get the transmission to downshift.
I’m going to try this simple fix this evening and hope it works for me as it seems to have worked for so many of you – wish me luck.
I honestly am in complete shock…. For a year I have been dealing with this issue and stumbled upon this last night while my insomnia was in full gear. It took longer to pop the hood than it did to make the “repair”.. THANK YOU!!!!
It actually works! I knew it was the abs module but i could not get it off as one of the torx screw heads was stripped. I had a place to have it refurbished, however to get it off now the whole pump has to be removed and the brake system bled by my local mechanic for about $200 plus refurb of $80.
You saved me a bunch. Originally the refurb part was costing me $180. Now thanks to you $0.
I know it may not last but hey the car is 1999. If it lasts a year or two great.
Thank you!
Hey this really works. Have a 1998 v70 and the ABS light was on. Found this post and tried it. Used a flat plaste piece and put it in. And it worked. I drove around the block and the light went off. Thanks for the tip. Saved me tons
So I left the windows down in my 2000 volvo s80 after I removed the abs module to soder it. I tried to put the windows back up but there is no battery charge. Does the module have to be in for the battery to have a charge?
@Laura, no you don’t need the module to be in in order to charge the battery.
Please help, how to do it on a 850 t5r, I have had the abs and track lamp on and of in a year.
Yep it worked , and who ever says ITS ABS get it fixed …. what a load of rubbish. Its simply needs the space betwen. wow how does volvo chief engineer feel about the LAKE of volvo smarts….. If Volvo would like to continue making $$$$ this is NOT the way to drive your future… bad move Volvo you have NO clue in engineering cars to last more then 5 yrs.
Fabulous fix! I was just quoted 1100 + for a repair, and found this info that evening. Thank you so much for sharing such valuable info! Worked like a charm with a 3/4″ lock washer!
I see that this question was already asked, but no reply was given. Is there a similar workaround for later model V70’s? I have an 2004 V70R that is having this same problem. Thanks!
Yes I have the same issue with my 2001 V70T and am about to remove my ABS mod. to send out for repair.
Will this work on my 2001?Thanks
[…] the whole ABS module which will cost several hundred dollars or use this easy fix described by Enes. I used a folded Wal-Mart card that is still doing the trick for our Volvo […]