Just bought my 3rd 89' W124... searching for 3 answers

[macarose]

This one is a 300 TE Wagon with approximately 155K on it. I am simply overjoyed to finally give my wife transportation that doesn't fit the 4000+ pound mode for her daily driving. Minivans are fine and all, but I'd really rather have both of us drive something that can fit in the our garage and, well, drives like a Mercedes.

I tend to be mechanically inclined but there are three things wrong on this one that may common to the lineage.

First we have the transmission shifting a little hard. The vehicle never shifts late and the transmission fluid is in good shape. I realize that their is a vaccum actuation system going on here but I honestly don't know how to track the problem down and replace what's needed. Any suggestions or thoughts? Even a link would help.

Second, the coolant temperature varies between 80 -99 degrees centigrade. I noticed a few things maintenance wise that may be related to this. The radiator, plugs and wires, alternator and battery all look to be new. I also found that the shop that reconditioned this car put in green fluid instead of the Zerex. I'm going to put in Zerex this weekend to remedy that. The cooling fan is coming on with a veangence but the opposite fan that is closest to the engine is rotating at what I would state as a 60% clip. Enough for their to be plenty of blur but not enough for me to think that it's doing it's job. When the vehicle is in park the temp will stay at around 85-90 but once you have stop n' go traffic the range increrases to about 20 degrees centigrade. Any ideas to track this down would be great.

Third, oil pressure is highly erratic on this one and I'm wondering whether it's a gauge problem or an oil pump problem. When I start up the vehicle the oil pressure gauge shoots well north of 3. If I drive on the highway for the first ten to fifteen minutes after it's fully warmed up it will stay at three but... once I start to do the stop n' go it will go down to 2 and sometimes to 1. It will go to 7/10's at idle but even if I rev it constantly it will go no higher than the 1.5 mark after about twenty minutes. I need to determine whether it's a fouled up gauge or whether something actually needs to be replaced on it.

I really look forward to making this car work. I've had two other 89's and gave them to enthusiasts, one of whom came nearly 2 hours to pick one up. I'm an auto auctioneer so the buying and selling of vehicles has always come naturally, and with it the tendency to work on them as well. To give you a grasp of how much I like this particular model, I am seriously considering selling a pristine Audi A8 because I find this wagon to be a more fun and durable piece of machinery. I'm also sending a 1996 E300 diesel to Florida and to be perfectly honest, I prefer driving the 89' model. The connection with the road and quality of workmanship in the W124 is two clicks above that particular generation. Thanks again for all your help and I hope all is well...

macarose