Volvo Repair: Front end wheel, volvo 240 wagon, cotter pin

Question
Volvo 240 wagon 1991 218K
Hello Regis,
When I hold the front wheels from the side and push and pull, I hear a clunking sound. Could the bearing be loose and how can they be adjusted?

Another problem I've noticed is the temperature gauge (next to the gas gauge) tends to go up almost to the red and all the way down sometimes. A good tap on the console makes it go back to the middle. At times when it gets hot the needle goes down when I've open the heater vent and turn the fan to high. Is this common on 240's? What needs replacing?
Thanks for your advise.

Answer
the bearings are only tightened just enough so there is not too much freeplay.they should be tightened pretty much by hand or just a pair of channellock pliers.you remove the silver end cap and then the cotter pin to get access to tighten the nut.

I would replace the temperature compensating board in the instrument cluster and then clean the outside of the radiator fins with a pressure washer.the compensation board is a circuit board in the instrument cluster that helps control the temp. guage.

Rege