I just bought my first volvo (yeah!) ... an 85 240DL wagon.

The car was originally a Canada car, complete with a carbeuretor. This is a bad thing, right?

Here are my first repair questions....

1) The blower/AC does not work at all. I can probably get some clues looking at the other messages, but some "first places to check" would be appreciated too.
2) The temperature gauge doesnt work. It's always beyond C . I was going to try checking the temp sending unit, but darned if I can find it. Chiltons shows only clean, disassembled engines.. where would the temp sending unit be?
3) The car runs really rough at idle, and really doesnt like to run at all unless the choke is always at least a little applied. I did get some improvement after using some "in the gastank" carb cleaner, but it's still not great. I'd love to start goofing around with mixture/idle speed, but I'd have to guess that replacement carbs aren't cheap, and I dont want to screw it up beyond repair.
4) The dash lights are telling me that my oil level light is burned out.. the book can guide me through getting to the bulb, but where do you get the bulbs?

I think thats it for now, and as you can see, the problems are minor (until winter if I have no heat). Anyway, it's great to find a group of people I can share this experience with.

Oh yeah, any suggestions on how I can get my 13 year old daughter to not be ashamed of being seen in the 'short bus' as she calls it?

Thanks,
Robert
Reno, NV