I finally took the plunge and bought a P6 3500 recently, a car that I've admired for some time but somehow always avoided buying. Anyway, I've got one now and apart from the creeping feeling that it isn't quite as good as I thought it was (sounds familiar?) I find that I quite like it.
One of the problems I noticed almost immediately was that it didn't warm up properly - even after a considerable run, the engine temperature resolutely stayed at the right edge of the 'white' part of the temperature gauge. The oil pressure seem to confirm this - even when the engine is warmish, it doesn't go below 30 psi at idle.
JR Wadhams kindly plonked a rather large parcel on my doorstep on Friday, which contained a service kit and a new thermostat. After a bit of swearing the radiator was drained and the old thermostat removed. Bingo! - or so I thought, the old thermostat was stuck slightly open. Out comes the old one, in goes the new one, a mental note about the amount of crud in the cooling system is made and all goes back together.
Unfortunately it's still running cold, the oil pressure is still rather mental and I'm wondering if I missed the bleeding obvious as I'm not that familiar with the car. Although I'm getting the felling that this will change soonish.
I know that the car badly needs a service, which will happen next weekend, but I'm not sure that it'll make a big difference. Given the amount of crud in the cooling system it should rather run hot than cold.
For the record, the car is an early '72 3500 Auto with 2 previous owners and most likely genuine 31k on the clock.
One of the problems I noticed almost immediately was that it didn't warm up properly - even after a considerable run, the engine temperature resolutely stayed at the right edge of the 'white' part of the temperature gauge. The oil pressure seem to confirm this - even when the engine is warmish, it doesn't go below 30 psi at idle.
JR Wadhams kindly plonked a rather large parcel on my doorstep on Friday, which contained a service kit and a new thermostat. After a bit of swearing the radiator was drained and the old thermostat removed. Bingo! - or so I thought, the old thermostat was stuck slightly open. Out comes the old one, in goes the new one, a mental note about the amount of crud in the cooling system is made and all goes back together.
Unfortunately it's still running cold, the oil pressure is still rather mental and I'm wondering if I missed the bleeding obvious as I'm not that familiar with the car. Although I'm getting the felling that this will change soonish.
I know that the car badly needs a service, which will happen next weekend, but I'm not sure that it'll make a big difference. Given the amount of crud in the cooling system it should rather run hot than cold.
For the record, the car is an early '72 3500 Auto with 2 previous owners and most likely genuine 31k on the clock.