Greetings from Oklahoma City.

I purchased my first Volvo yesterday, after having been a long-time admirer. It's an '86 240GL wagon with just over 128k on the clock; cosmetically it's close to immaculate and was obviously cared for very well for the majority of its life. The body remains unhit and rust-free, the original paint is excellent, and all of the trim is present and in really nice condition.

All of the electrical seems to be present and accounted for; all lights, wipers, gauges etc function properly and the blower motor works smoothly on all speeds. The car starts right up and idles smoothly,has good power, and feels great going down the highway, which is where it will spend the majority of its time with me.

That said, it has some issues that I'll need to address.

- The trans shifts pretty hard from 1st to 2nd, and doesn't like to upshift at all beyond that point without lifting the throttle at the shift point. Using the "lift" method it goes into all gears including overdrive just fine, and doesn't seems to have any downshifting issues. Solenoid? Kickdown cable?

-The trans shifts pretty hard from "park" into "drive," sometimes making a bit of a clunking noise. I assume this is due to a weak diff mount, loose u-joints or both?

- There's a low-pitched driveline vibration when accelerating in the lower gears, which I assume is the driveshaft carrier bearing on its way out?

- The steering feels good and the car tracks straight, but something feels a bit loose at low speeds and is clunking a bit when I crank the wheel one way or the other in parking situations. Pitman arm? Drag link? Balljoint? A cursory glance under the cars shows all the rubber bits to be intact and in good condition, but that's all I know at this point.

That's enough rambling for now. I've been poring over all the info I can glean via google search etc, and I'm looking forward to diving into the community here. I've had lots of experience working on aged Euro rides (primarily BMW and VW), and I'm looking forward to making this old girl drive as nice as she looks. Thanks for reading if you made it this far, and I'm grateful for any insight you seasoned veterans might provide.

Take care-

JJ