Here's my story:

I was moving with my '92 740 turbo across the country, all loaded with stuff. In the mountains of Idaho on a hot day it died, sputtered as if fuel-starved and then wouldn't take fuel at all and wouldn't start up again. Got it towed to a tiny town, assumed my fuel pump had died since it had been making that fuel-pump buzzing noise for months previously. Next day it started. So I figured it was the pre-pump, drove at night when it was cooler and kept the tank above half. Made it the 1200 miles to my destination.

I'm not one of you fix-the-hard-stuff-yourself folks I admire so much, so I took it to my volvo mechanic. He said that we really should replace both the pre-pump and the main pump right away, and gave me some story about how if i don't it might die and send metal into the engine or something and cost me a billion dollars. He'd like to charge me about a thousand bucks for the job. Is this right? The car is running ok now, and I don't plan any big trips in the future -- it's a get-groceries and go-out-to-dinner car now, I don't even need it to get to work. Plus my radiator is leaking coolant so that must be replaced immediately and will cost a lot of money. I'm low on cash and would like to wait on anything I can wait on, and anyway I feel like my mechanic is a bit too pricey. Couldn't I wait until it dies again? Or just replace the pre-pump? Is there any actual risk involved in waiting?

thanks for any advice you might offer another idiot who knows too little about his own damn car. i'm learning...