Car is: 1992 Vovlo 240 4 cyl. non-diesel Auto Trans 4-door Sedan Body ~175,000 mi So I've never done much on my own to my cars except change the oil and oil filter, top off the fluids. The car runs well. It's starting to catch a tiny bit between 1st and 2nd gear. The tranny fluid is new and full. I don't know trannies super well but I've had one slowly die on me before and it felt like my current one at least 20-30k miles before it died, so I'm not too worried about that. In the last 6 months I've had all the brakes and one bad rotor replaced, all the belts replaced (after the alternator belt snapped and the rest looked about ready to), and the water pump replaced. When I had the water pump replaced I asked the mechanic to go through the car and see how it was doing, he said he thought it looked great excpet the water pump. Now I'm driving my car from LA to Boston. I've got a good volvo mechanic here, but I need to fix the front left headlight (there's body damage so they're going to have to gerry-rig it and drill a hole and bolt the new one in, so can't diy). That's gonna run $215 or so. I need to replace both back lights (one the brake's out, the other the blinker and brake's out), which I'm planning on doing myself. It looks pretty easy. So with all that I can't afford to let him do a full $400-$500 tuneupe. However, I've been talking to a friend, who unfortunately doesn't live around here, and I'm thinking I can do my spark plugs and wires, fuel filter, and air filter myself. I'm pretty good with fixing things but like I said have never really worked on cars much. The only problem is that it takes a long time to warm up on cold mornings, which obviously will be much more of a problem in Boson. My mechanic said that can sometimes be helped by cleaning the throttle body, which is part of the tuneup or can be done for $110 by itself. Also new plugs and wires might help? SO, Is it feasible for me to find info online and do the ignition and filters myself? Is there anything else that I could DIY that y'all would recommend? Would you all recommend I spend the money to have my mechanic clean the throttle body? That sounds more intimidating cause I don't even know where that is, but is that also something I can do myself? I have a 3+ weeks to get this together, with the last week with no work, and I'm ready to put in some serious hours, and I have a friends car to drive, so mine can be out of commission. Thanks! Matt

Hello. My 8 year old was bored waiting for the bus a couple of months ago and decided to make swirlies on the car-on just a small section thank goodness- he said he didn't use a rock but his nails? Is that possible? Anyways, they are surface scratches I believe as they do not look deep but I have tried to rub them out using a dry and wet cloth but they just reappear. Any suggestions as the car color is maroon and they do stand out pretty good. Thanks so much! Sue