Re. RD and 4000Q thermostat

["Guillermo S. Christensen" <gchriste@CapAccess.org>]

On Fri, 24 Mar 1995, Michael Spiers wrote:
> 
> stuff deleted....
> Police in this area (Northern Virginia/Fairfax) are getting
> very anal - they have  installed cameras on top of stoplights, and they take
> pictures of the license plates of cars running redlights then mail a ticket
> out.  I don't know of anyone getting a ticket this way...stuff deleted...

I live in No.VA and was wondering where you have actually seen these
red-light-runner detection cameras?  My understanding from a story in the
papers was that this is something VA is thinking about doing, but has not
gotten past that stage. 

As for RD in VA (and DC for that matter since they are also prohibited
there), police cannot confiscate them.  The sale, and use of RD is
prohibited, but not the ownership.  You can be fined for using a RD, but the
police cannot legally confiscate it.  BTW: VA police are very aggresive in
their use of VG-2 radar detector detectors, alhtough they are masters of
the "beating the bush" technique:  blipping their instant on unit a few
times to ID RD-equipped vehicles. 

Now for an Audi peg to this posting.  What is the correct temp thermostat
for an '84 4000Q?  I recenly had the water hoses replaced and the service
shop told me that doing the diagntics they found that the themostat in my
car was set for a colder temperature than it should be--after their change
the coolant temp gauge needle in the dash, instead of hovering around the
lower one third region, settles around the half way mark or somewhat above
this point.  The service manager, whom I have found to be quite honest and
reasonable, told me that running with a colder thermostat would help if
the cooling system had a problem, but since my car's system is fine,
moving to the 190 degree thermostat would allow the engine to run warmer
and improve its efficiency (mainly gas mileage) as opposed to running
artifically cooler.  All this makes certain sense to me.  Any thoughts? TIA.

Guillermo S. Christensen
Mclean, Virginia
'84 Audi 4000S Quattro
'93 BMW 325is