I gave our #1 son (18 y/o) a sharp-looking '90 244DL (black with a tan interior) AFTER he crashed a nice '91 244 he crashed 18 months ago (an accident that admittedly was the other guy's fault, but in my opinion could have been prevented by a little defensive driving). Last week he calls me up with the news that his brakes were squealing and needed to be replaced.

I knew the pads were almost brand new, so I thought grease and new shims might cure the squeal. At the very worst, I thought he might have a warped rotor. He brought the car over this weekend and I took a look. Boy, did I get a surprise. One of the front passenger pads linings was completely gone, and he was running steel-on-steel. So much for the "squeal"! I replaced the rotor and put new PBX Deluxe pads on all around. I also had to replace a ripped caliper piston boot on the damaged wheel. Incredibly enough, none of the pistons on this wheel (which must have gotten amazingly hot) were frozen.

So far, not too bad. Anybody could have a pad failure, right? However, when I went to back the car out of the garage to put it into the LH bay (to provide better access for the passenger-side pad replacements), I noticed that the powersteering was stiff. Not u-joint stiff, but STIFF! I also saw a pool of PS fluid on the garage floor where the car had been parked. Sure enough, the PS reservoir was empty! I refilled it and saw a relatively slow drip out of the driver's side tie rod boot. The pump seems undamaged, believe it or not.

Dreading what I would find, I checked the oil dipstick. NOTHING. The car was 2.5 quarts low. This kid had been told to check the oil every 2-3 days, rain or shine. I had even put two full quarts in the trunk for topping off. Needless to say, this oil was still there. Those B230F engines are ironclad, because this one still runs with no apparent sign of damage.

This evening I get to lie in the cold mud and attempt to pull the rack from the '91 244DL car our son earlier. The Volvo equivalent of "the circle of life," I suppose.