Only a little progress on the Volvo V40

So far I have only made a little progress on the new-to-me Volvo V40 2.0.

Mostly this has been cleaning and researching problems.

The roof was covered in tiny black spots. These came off with a bit of spot remover and rubbing, so looks much more presentable. I still need to wax and possibly polish it.

The front grille keeps breaking more every time I touch it so I decided it would look better without it. I found a new grille for A$90 in Queensland so will be ordering that ASAP.

Interior has been thoroughly cleaned. The holes in the carpet in the driver's footwell have been covered with a black mat.

I discovered I have a problem with brake pedal pressure on cold start. The first time you brake it feels like it's not going to stop. There is a common problem with a pressure switch that usually causes this. It needs a new auxiliary belt and I also found that the timing belt was last replaced around 120,000 km ago, not 60,000 km like the previous owner thought, so is due for replacement.

There is some crazy wiring to the headlights. There is mysterious speaker wire and fuses and connector blocks. I need to investigate and tidy this up.

I investigated the steering lock issue, add-on starter switch and loose indicators/wiper controls. Unfortunately I didn't solve any of these issues but I have ordered a screw extractor so I can remove the sheer screws and look at replacing the steering lock and tightening up the controls somehow. At least while this was apart I may have fixed the issue where the panel above the driver's feet had fallen down and was slightly obstructing use of the pedals.

I found a power steering leak was caused by just a loose hose clamp on the hose connected to the reservoir. I have replaced this and cleaned the area.

I also discovered I have a broken steering rack rubber boot.

Lastly, I removed the tow bar as I keep running into it when walking around the car in my garage and have no use for it. I tried to remove just the tongue but that didn't come out to easy and I ended up removing the whole thing. Some good weight-saving there. Shame about the cut out in the rear bumper.