Wow, this is a great site, my first post, wish I had found this board earlier!

OK, so I finally got my brick-colored 1990 245 Volvo Wagon running like a dream. I have had it 6 years, and it's NEVER ran this good. Even when we first got it, it had a tendency to die soon after being started. That was just the flame trap though, I eventually learned (along with how to rig a fuel relay, etc...)

It's not been a good year for the volvo, or for me, driving it. Got it overhauled last year, at a tech college, but my brother is the director, and the engine work was done by a really high profile, custom shop. Engine is all glass beaded, it's Beautiful.

It ran pretty good last year when I got it back. Idle was a bit rough, but not bad. This summer though, I blew an ECU, and a fuel relay a bit later, and the idle gradually got rougher--a vacuum leak I could not find. The vacuum leak having been left over from the rebuild, I think they didn't torque the intake manifold enough. When it got worse, I finally found it, replaced intake gasket and set the valves. So now, it's running, like I said, great. I was too much of a wus with the carb cleaner, thought it would catch fire near the engine or I would have found this a lot sooner. I guess what I forgot was that the air is being pulled in by the downstroke, so any leak along the way, especially between the throttle and the cylinders is going to suck wind and cause the incredibly annoying rough idle. Anyhow, I have learned a lot about the volvo in the past year...

Wife still wants to get rid of it. It's my car, so that's not going to happen for awhile. She wants a new one for herself, and to give me the passat. Passat is a great car, but it's just too early to ditch the brick. Thing is that she still needs to drive da brick some. I don't want to ditch it NOW, even though the kids are older and I don't use the 3rd seat so much, etc... but really, after going through all this, I am quite sure the car is good for MANY MANY more miles at this point. It only has 170k, and only about 8k on the rebuild! Not a spec of rust, ect... I do need shocks, mostly because I put some cheap ones on it from local auto parts store (big mistake). Also, brakes squeak like crazy.

These little things now, are fixable, but the airbag... How can I reassure her that it's OK? Ever get one checked? Is it time to replace it? It's never been deployed, ASAIK, and I've had the car for about eight years. She seems to think that these early air bags are not as safe as the old ones. Maybe I could just drive her when she needs the car :-) as there is no passenger side bag.

She is only 5'2" and thinks that it's going to kill her if it goes off. What would you do in a situation like this, (all wife jokes aside)...