the only cars i've ever owned were 2 240's from the mid 80's. the first one i ended up trading with my step dad for the second, which i promptly locked up due to a lack of oil... yeah... really tragic. but in my defense that was atleast 3 years ago and i had been out of town for a couple months and didnt notice the leak. also i had no idea what i was doing as far as maintenance and up keep, which i have actually learned a ton about recently due to the fact that my girlfriend drives a 89 740 that i get to work on.
so i was walking down the street the other day and i noticed a gold 240 parked on the street. i took note of it because it looked IDENTICAL to my last 240. i peaked inside for a bit of nostaglia and saw a for sale sign folded over with a tiny phone number written on it. there was absolutely no WAY that anyone - especially in a vehicle driving down the street - could see the sign, much less read the phone number so i figured, you know, i'll give it a shot and see what the deal is. i thought chances were it didnt run and had tons of problems because they were only asking $500! then again, maybe they just "didnt know" and no one else had inquired because of the tiny sign. so i called them up and no... there were no problems to speak of. atleast not anymore. they had just put new tires on, completely overhauled the brake system, and done some other engine work. the owner's main reason for not asking much was that the AC apparently didnt work. i bit my tongue because in all of my years of volvo enthusiasm, i had yet to own or ride in a volvo with an AC that actually got midly cool. the only problems i could see with the appearance of the car is that the hood is slightly oxidized and the blinker lenses were cracked (and some minor dings but no real body damage.) i test drove it around the block. no problem at all. cranked fast, drove fast, stopped fast. everything electrical seemed to work, windows, locks, lights, guages. the black leather interior was in great shape with the exception of the drivers seat cushion. i was in love! i ran home and pulled up a carfax report. only 1 owner!! no wrecks! apparently the daughter had driven it for over 10 years and just got a new car so the dad wanted it gone because he had no use for it.

so i brought him a check the next day and drove it home. her name is emma and as far as i can tell she's healthy! BUT i noticed some minor problems today while working on her interior. the odometer stopped at 160k but the owner assured me it wasn't long ago and there were DEFINITELY no more than 200k miles on it - carfax and registration corroborated this. the odometer gear broke, which ive come to find is a common problem. not a big deal though, as i have a cnc mill and can either make my own replacement gear, or purchase a gear online. so then i popped the hood and noticed the air cleaner cover is missing one of the clamps. i dont think i bought it like this, because i did a pretty good inspection of everything before i drove it home and probably would have noticed it. i tried to push it closed as best as i could, but theres still maybe a 1/4 inch crack (before the filter) btwn the cover and the body of the air cleaner. after noticing this, the car has become increasingly difficult to start. not so much DIFFICULT as SLIGHTLY HESITANT. its not a real problem, it just feels like it is progressing into a problem. could it be the air cleaner gap? so that is the immediate reason for this post (as well as to announce my new purchase.)

also though, i was wondering what all i should check on under the hood as a preemptive strike against failure. what are some common problems that i should check for? is there sort of a engine checkup checklist i can follow to sort of give emma a physical before i take her on an outing longer than 5 miles? thanks alot for any info!