It is cold coolant.

 

That verifies that the motor is not overheating and you have a mal-function happening with the reading of the gauge. With a new T-stat in there when it opens it will expel the hot water out of the top hose into the radiator. the only way to completly verify that is take the T-stat out and verify that it opens when it gets hot. You can stick it in a pan of water and observe to see if it opens all the way.

 

So it is a cold gauge problem?

Thats good, I have an extra set of gauges. Weird how it only does that in the cold. then again, i drove my car about 30 miles after i refilled her to the top, and the gas-o-meter says i am beyond full.

Now, kind of off topic, but when i swap out my gauges, will my Tach stop waving and hovering around 3-4k? sometimes it works but thats when i really give it the go, and then it only reads after 6k. Couldnt be the points, unless you have to mess with that every 15k miles...

 

Just to make sure, I would like you to pull the T-stat and verify it is opening by the method I described, better safe then sorry.

The tach problem could be a connection problem in your gauge cluster or what is more common is loose or corroded connections at the trailing ignitor.
If after you verify that the stat is good then I would replace the temp sender unit at the block below the oil pressure sending unit. But check and clean the connection first and make sure the wiring is good also.

 

Remind me to get you something for Christmas

 

lol.
My present is getting someones 7 back on the road

 

Just for kicks, I am going to test my old thermostat real quick.

 

Have you tested the new one yet?

 

no, never tested it. I was too excited about getting it fixed :p You know how it is.

Oh, and just my luck. old one works perfectly.

 

Verify the new one too, just in case. Especially if you were having this issue with the old one, and that one checks out okay now... When you pulled the housing and found cool/cold water in there, that could have meant that the tstat never opened.