I had been suffering intermittent steering shimmy apparently caused by unbalanced tires. Changing wheels didn't solve the problem. My brakes were also a bit peculiar. From a cold start, the pedal would go almost to the floor, then after a few minutes the pedal was tight, and the brakes would apply with the merest touch. The problem became bad enough that I discovered my front brakes were binding (the car was sluggish and the engine overheating and the front wheels were vibrating quite severely ).

The brake pads were evenly worn. The pistons pushed back easily with my fingers. When I opened the bleed valve, there was barely a dribble (I compared it to my 85 240 and the fluid fairly gushed out by comparison). However, it could be pumped through. I cracked open the fittings at the MC and again a bare dribble. Inside the MC reservoir there were globules of (what I think were) water. I switched out the MC and now everything is fine - no binding brakes and no shimmy. When I examined the MC, there was rust beneath one of the rubber seals (at the base of the reservoir - on the fill side) - from the water in the fluid? I guess a flake of rust blocked the outlet. I have had the car 6 weeks. I guess the brake system had not been flushed in eons.

I was surprised to find that my 92 245 has front calipers with only one hydraulic line and one bleed screw (compared to my 85 - 2 hydraulic lines and 3 bleed screws). Whatever happened to Volvo's dual circuit brake system?

Thanks to all who helped.