I'm a college student, and purchased my 1992 960 in June with 117,000 miles on it. I was told that for volvos, the mileage is not that high, yada yada yada, so I bought it. Had a timing belt issue, that turned into me purchasing a used, but new to me, engine to the tune of $2,300. I dont think it's the car thing as much as it was the used dealership was horrible, ANYWAY, I digress...

I am a 22 year old female, and i'm not saying that girls dont know much about cars, cause I know plenty that do, however, I'm not one of them. I'm pretty dumb, and whenever anything goes wrong, I make my call to dad. However, being at school Dad cant fix it all. My newest issues, that I would like anyones opinion on is this:

1) My car came back from the mechanic earlier this month with a leaking air sound whenever I press on the brakes. Someone on campus told me that its a vacuum leak? And i'm not in any serious danger of losing my brakes??? Is this true? Or am I one day just going to suddenly not be able to stop?

2) It could be because of the cold, I live on the south shore of Massachusetts, and its been negatives here recently, but when i turn on my car recently, the red light that shoes a fan inside the battery comes on. I sit there and let my car warm up, and it goes away within like 2 or 3 minutes. My dad suggested it mightjust be the cold, but I would love anyones input!

Also, I dont know where I should be posting this exactly, It might be in the wrong spot, but hopefully someone can help..... thanks!