I bought a 1992 GL auto Wagon about a month ago and I'm pretty sure it will be on the top ten list of stupid things I've done this year. I paid 1200 dollars and it had 209,000 miles at the time. Three days after I brought Seb home (short for Sebastopol, my home town, like California's natural habitat for the Volvo wagon) he threw on his oil light. I'm kind of an idiot. I wanted a car that would fit all of my gear and my band mates and I wanted it to be reliable. I used to have a 1983 WV air cooled Vanagon, Murphy, but after sometime with him I felt he should go to someone who was more inclined to deal with his quirks (and lack of heat as I now live in Illinois). I took him in to have his oil changed just as soon as the light flashed and then the breaks started squeaking. The guy I bought him from seemed like a super honest dude, didn't have records for the car but swore he took great care of it. I doubt him now...
Today my lovely lemon was awesome enough to light up the ABS,SRS, Battery, E_Break, and service light after I took a not so sharp turn. My friend said that he heard some grinding coming from the back.
What does it all mean?
What do all the lights mean?
I can't afford to fix him right now so he'll just have to sit around. I haven't noticed anything funny about the way that it's running. it used to hang just about 500 RPM but now it kinda reves...as I was driving it home the TACK needle was going haywire. It shakes at 55.....ugh....
I test drove the car, I looked it over, I had a friend of mine inspect it. The mechanic I took it to for the oil change said it was a good car and would last me at least 5 more years.....
I'm not sure if he was just trying to make me feel better or not.
The only thing I did differently today was turn on the heated seats and the heater.

I'm so screwed you guys.
I don't really have tools, any idea how to do more but check the fluids and open the hood.
I would like to learn to at least diagnose my four wheeled life mate, I'm bidding on some books right now.
I'm going to pull my hair out.
Any and all advice would be awesome.

If you got to the end of this, that's great, thanks tons!
Ginny