Hi Tone
Lots of people read without posting, so you are not alone
They tend to describe themselves as "lurkers" and don't use the term peeking, which has other connotations we won't go into here
Sorry to hear you have had such trouble importing. Ireland is a high tax economy also, and I had trouble getting mine in at reasonable cost, but managed it. Your bonus is, at '96 vintage, you should have one of the best. We may in fact go to Portugal this year with the family. If we do, we'll have to meet.
Sad to hear your car's previous owner passed away, but he will be happy the car is in the hands of someone who appreciates it and cares for it.
Don't worry about the cooling fans. There are two big fans on the rad, and as far as I know, one of them works most of the time. The second, left one facing forward I think, comes on for extra cooling when pressing on or in hot weather, and will be permanently on when the aircon is working [A/C is trying to dump heat also, you see] These cars work in the hottest places in the US, Arizona etc without a murmur, and I have the utmost confidence in the cooling system. If you want to improve it a bit, you might consider putting in an additive to the coolant called a"water wetter". These improve the efficiency at low cost with no side effects.
The only thing you have to worry about is keeping your ATF from getting high -temp "spikes". This will happen in cities in hot weather, when driving uphill in hot weather, or when racing people anytime. In a beautiful warm country like yours, you should really, really have an additional cooler cooling the tranny oil. Until you do get the extra cooler, I would advise you strongly to always check your ATF smells fresh, is a clear pink colour, and will not leave a brown stain from the dipstick on a white tissue. Best advice would be to change your ATF every six months, but at your current low mileage, that would be madness.
Relax and enjoy the car and thanks for the link. Great to see two yellow cars together, totally
See ya
Joe
