I have a much loved 1996 960, but lately it is driving me to despair. I have have gremlins

and an all day perusal of the Brickboard search for electrical glitches did not come up with

anything very close to my problems.
The first thing to happen was over a year ago when I thought there was something wrong with

my cruise. It hadn't worked for weeks when i rode with my mechanic and it worked perfectly.

After he got out the seat refused to move back to normal position(although that could be

unrelated). I drove to Missouri the next day, with my knees up to my chest and the cruise not

working, horrors. So I went to a Dealership out there where they said the vacuum part was

missing? well, whatever, they fixed it and when I got it back it worked all around the town and

then ceased to work for the 1300 miles I had to go home.I had the Dealership do a diagnostic on

the engine for the check engine light and they came up with 2 codes for switches having to do

environmental controls. fcp and all Volvo didn't have them and all the mechanics I talked to

said it wouldn't have any effect on the way the car ran.Sometimes that light goes out too but

most of the time it stays on.
At the same time they assured me that the weird noise I thought I heard (I am almost deaf

and hearing aids only partially compensate) from the transmission was actually just front end

parts.OKay. So 100 miles later trans fails.I had a local mechanic from the small town I was

in replace it with a good used trans fairly cheaply and was on the road again.
Four months later,my radiator gave up the ghost and i replaced it along with the overflow

tank. Since then my radiator light came on intermittently giving me a good scare! It would

again go out coincidentally when I would unscrew the overflow cap and re screw it. Huh, At the

same time cruise still not working, I noticed it would start working intermittently. Then when

I started my car and it was running the power windows wouldn't work. But if I shut it off and

put the key in first position, they would. This was pretty disturbing as it's 98 degrees out

and my air conditioning was always leaking out every couple weeks or so. One day, I noticed the

sunroof wouldn't budge either.And my radiator light is a constant companion. About this time, I

got the wretched red arrow and flashing E, but weirdly enough when I checked the trans fluid

which was a gratifying healthy pink and put back the dipstick the light went out. When it

happened again I drove it for several days wondering if the light would go out and not noticing

any effect on the trans but since it didn't I pulled the dipstick again. Coincidentally? the

light went out again. Several weeks ago light came back on and I have only driven it 3 times,

but I noticed no lower gears so ooops. I should try the dipstick thing again (but it makes no

sense) Also finally after a few months of sweating and suffering instead of putting half a can

in myself I brought it to my mechanic, who put in 3(?) cans worth and I enjoyed air conditoning

for 2 days. Then as I thought it had all leaked out and I bit the bullet and brought it back

to fix the air and you know, he said the compressor was full and he thought it might be an

electrical problem. Meanwhile, my cruise control is working like a champ after being on the

fritz for a year, the seat still doesn't work. My air which didn't work for several days

afterwards is now blasting an icy chill, the arrow is on, my radiator light is but radiator is

full and functioning perfectly. The windows are hit and miss, I never even try the sunroof (hate

it anyway) and the trans thing is flashing.
I have to admit, I don't trust dealerships much and rarely let them near my car, seems as

though they fix unrelated problems and want thousands for pretty simple fixes. My local

mechanic has a pretty good handle on things and lets me bring him parts and print off

instructions to follow to boot, so really nice guy, no Volvo cords , though. Usually by reading

I can diagnose things myself but so far, I'm not having any luck. The problem is I don't know

which of these are related. Any thoughts?