A quick introduction... I just joined the list yesterday and have already run into an old friend. Nick and I have known one another for many years and he's been helping me to join the diesel fraternity. What a wonderful surprise to find Steve MacSween also on the list...he and I hung out together on SwedishBricks, a list I've run for many years for Volvo nuts.
I'm a self-confessed Audi nut...been driving Audis for the past 6 or 7 years. I was seduced away from Volvos by Land Rovers, then found an Audi S6 that got me out of the trucks. So now I'm leaving the Audi fold...I've been driving a late model A6 quattro wagon and while it's a beatiful car, the combination of a variety of mechanical and electronic gremlins, the monthly offering to the bank, and stinky gas mileage (not much better than my 4.0 SE Rover) has gotten me into diesels. I've always loved the Mercedes line. I learned to drive on a 240D 30 years ago (don't tell my uncle, he still doesn't know why the tank was always empty!) and have always lusted after smaller 2 door cars (230, 280SL). I found my way here through VW. I thought briefly about a Passat TDI, but given the recent oil runup, VW prices have gone through the roof. Just not worth it for a car that's basically a consumable. Been there, done that. My original plan was to have an *additional* car, so that the Audi would not pile up the mileage so quickly but still be available for bad weather driving. I've moved away from that plan, in part because I don't really have the room for a 3rd car. So I've found a clean, low mileage '93 W124 td, southern car in North Carolina, with most or all of the options then available. It's going in for a pre-purchase inspection tomorrow and if all goes well, I'll have it home in time for Halloween. My plan is to play with biodiesel, probably externally produced (not in-car), but that may change. We'll see. In the meantime, I'll have lots of basic questions, like "how do you start one of these things" and how do you change the oil, and more. So bear with me :) So here's my first question - if a car did not come from the factory with ASD, is it possible to retrofit it? Is it a simple mechanical replacement of the rear diff, or is it an electrical and mechanical system? How do you tell if a car *has* ASD? And a second question - if the car has headlamp wipers, what happens to them when I swap the lamps out for ecode lamps? Is this a straightforward swap, or does it involve dropping the bumper. On my Volvos, it was 3 bolts and you're away...on the Audi it was a *big* procedure...like pretty much everything on the Audi! BTW, I'm in Boston...anyone else around here? Anyone already in a local BD co-op? Lee
