a series of smallish issues with a '91 740

[neonwattagelimit]

Hi,

I should preface this by saying that I know absolutely nothing about cars, so if you could be mindful of that in responding (and patient with some seemingly stupid questions), I'd really appreciate it.

Anyway, I've got a '91 740 sedan, automatic with about 176,000 miles. I had new brakes put last September, and had to have the water pump, timer belt and tensioner replaced in December. Aside form that, never any serious issues (I've had the car for about two years).

A series of small things, however, have been nagging at me for awhile:

The brake warning light on the dash goes on every few months, but only when I accelerate (really, it'll go on until I take my foot off the gas, then stop. It never goes on while braking). It could just be an electrical thing-the bulb replacement light goes on, even though all my bulbs are fine-but it happened in September, and then I had to get new brakes because there was a leak in one of the calipers (what is that? I really don't know). It happened again when I had the work done in December, and they just put in some new brake fluid and it stopped-until this week. Could I be leaking brake fluid? Could my new brakes have not fixed the old leak? What could that all mean, and what could I do about it? I really don't want to have to go and get another serious job done.

Sometimes my speedometer just stops working. I have noticed no pattern with this. It happens while accelerating and braking, while going 75mph and 25mph. It's happened after driving for awhile, and happened right after starting the car. It'll go weeks, or months, without happening at all, and then occur six or seven times in a few days. What could this be?

There's a rattling noise that comes from the back of the car while idling. It comes and goes, but sometimes it's really annoying. I think it could be the tail pipe or something, but I'm curious as to whether anyone else has experienced this. It usually goes away if I shift into neutral.

Also, I'm thinking of getting a new stereo put in so that I could use my iPod's tape adapter (the tape deck's been broken since I got the car), does anyone have any advice with that?

Thanks alot! I really appreciate any help anyone could offer with this.,

Vin

[CarVolvo]

im guessing that your brake issue may be several things.

The first thing which could be you also need an adjustment to the idle of the car... has that been done with a proper tune up?

If not that then the things to check on the brake are:

1. the sending unit itself that tells your low on fluid.
2. you might have a slighy leak but how are you brakes performing overall? Do you need more pressure?
3. The vacuum assist or on of the vaccum lines have a leak in it or maybe something out of the master vacuum cylinder.

Speedometer could be that the sending unit is loose on the connection on th tranny or going altogether. See if you can clean off the stuff around it and the wires to the speedometer is not damaged when your not gettign a signal.

[neonwattagelimit]

Thanks for the reply.

Anyway, regarding your questions.

I had a tune-up in December. They didn't say a thing about the idle of the car. Is that a normal thing to check during tune-ups?

The brakes are performing fine. The pedal doesn't go too far down, they don't even squeak. If there is a change in pressure, it's barely noticeable. I haven't yet gotten around to checking the fluid level, I've been kind of busy. I'll be doing it today-if it's low, could I just add more fluid? Come to think of it, I drove with that light on for about a month last fall and didn't notice a thing.

If it's the thing with the vacuum lines, what should I do? To be honest, I don't really know what those are.

How do I get to the sending units around the speedometer, and how should I clean them (if I trust myself enough to actually try this)?

Thanks again for your help.