I've got to go to the shop, but I'd love to have an idea what's going on before I take her in. If anyone has any thoughts, thanks in advance!

Here are my symptoms, they may not all be relevant:

Driving home on the highway the other night, ALL of the red warning lights on the dash came on when applying the brakes, then would slowly fade out until the next application of the brakes.

I can't tell if the brake pedal feels soft, or if I just think it does because of the lights. I had a brake cylinder fail about 12 years ago on the same car (in downtown San Francisco during rush hour!!) and the pedal went right ot the floor. This is not the case now.

Smell of fuel outside the car, esp. after driving--I had a rotted fuel line coming out of the tank that I replaced about a year ago, so maybe another part of it has disentigrated, or there is another leak somewhere. I don't know what brake fluid smells like, or of this is unrelated.

Drove around last night with no traffic to see if I could gather any more info. The red warning lights didn't seem to be as closely linked to brake application (I wasn't travelling at highway speeds) but the engine almost stalled when accellerating from a dead stop, and all the lights dimmed momentarily, making me wonder if this an electrical problem. It was raining hard all yesterday, and I have had problems during wet weather in the past. Within the last year the alternator and distrubutor have been replaced.

ALSO: Both front brake assemblies were replaced with 90s vintage parts by a Volvo guy this summer, fyi.

Thanks for any input!