My 1988 Volvo 240 DL has served well for many years, but is now worth under $1,000. Its main use to me right now is if it can last for six or more months and save me from having to buy another car right away.
My first problem is, the steering has a "floating" feeling at high speeds. The wheel feels loose and I can jiggle it a half inch or inch without the car changing direction. The car seems to need more active steering to stay on course. At first I thought this was a suspension problem, but now I'm leaning towards steering. It also feels a little loose when driving at lower speeds. However, the car steers fine and when I'm turning I feel no problems.
There's also an intermittent "tick tick tick" sound from the back wheels when the car is cold. It always goes away, but I wonder if a strut is going. And finally, I sometimes hear a light rattle when accelerating hard or going up a hill, especially when cold.
I'm wondering if I should fix these or just junk the car soon. The steering bothers me most. If it's not dangerous I could just leave it alone, but I don't want to find out the hard way that I ignored something important. I drive 17 miles to work, most of it highway, and don't want to develop a sudden steering problem at 60 mph.
I moved recently and my old mechanic is now too far away, so I'd have to bring this to a new mechanic. Any ideas what it could be? And how much should it cost to fix?