M,

For much of your inquiry, it is very informative and easy to check the 700/900 FAQ pages. A large portion of the information there applies to your 200 series volvo.

Next, if the transmission has been flushed recently and you have documents of that, then no need to flush it, but otherwise, go spend $100 and do it, it will be worth it. (if you know how to do it yourself, then go for it) your reving is probably low tranny fluid, I would just recommend it to be changed completly and then you know when it was last done.


The hard shifitng (P-N-D-R...etc) could also be from low fluid.

your heater situation sounds like the heater control valve, this is the valve that lets more coolant into the heater core, thus producing more heat. pretty simple fix from what i have heard, just can be messy with anti-freeze if your not careful.

for window surgery, go to this link and bookmark it. it has a page on there for fixing power windows and lot's of other stuff.

http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/quickindex.html

Good luck and welcome to the board!
Chuck