I am new to this forum, but its seems that it is the best one going around so i thought i would enlighten you all of my new car (first car) and see if you can shed some light on some of the niggles that i have found with it.

It is a 1997 EL fairmont ghia with 180,000kms. I had a mechanic check it out and he said it is in good nik but there is one major problem... There is a tiny amount of seepage from the passenger side of the head. The car has a new radiator core, and he said it is likely that it has over heated due to radiator issues hence the new radiator. The car runs very cool so i took the risk and will fix head at tax time (hottest i have seen is at the N and that was climbing a mountain for an hr, and usually sits at or just below the normal line). I have decided i paid too much for it now i have it ($3400) but it does have new exhaust, new shocks, new tyres and rego till november.

Issues i have identified are

- power steering whine when turning to full locks. Have checked fluid and when the car is cold, it is at full hot level. Is this right?

- heater doesn't work (have identified this to be blend door error)

- the tool who i bought it off broke all the cruise control buttons off the steering wheel the night i picked it up. How would i go about fixing these?

- hunting at idle. This was particularly bad when i first got it, but i have been running 98 or 95 octane fuel in it for a couple of weeks and it is pretty much fine now apart from the odd occasion. This seems to happen mainly when the oil pressure gauge sits in the high orange area.

- Oil pressure seems to be very high all the time. Not sure why, as oil pressure should be low on start up and at idle. Oil pressure seems normal when driving.

- Have noticed a slight fuel smell in the cabin when the aircon is on. This only happens occasionally, but the other day it was particularly strong.

- Brake shudder when braking at higher speed.

This is now a missive post and i apologise, but one last query; (which is getting to me the most) The operating temp does seem particularly low as i have described above. If i am driving for an hr or so on a cold night (by cold i mean brisbane cold) it wont even reach the normal range. Could this be a temp sensor issue? Or to do with the new radiator being particularly efficient? And if it is running this cold all the time, could it be wearing the engine excessively? I would prefer a normal temp to an excessively low one.

Thanks,

Louie

i'd suggest thermostat for the running cold aswell