Hi beerme,

Welcome. There are several posters with 3.5L diesels ... some have had problems and replaced/rebuilt engines and some have been lucky (me).

Mine has 142K on it and runs very well. Nice car in every regard - as long as I can fix it .... very expensive at times if you are having the work done.

Change oil to Mobil or Delvac 1 and see if it changes anything. My understanding is that the oil burning gets very, very bad ... a quart a day! Do a search and you will find a lot. I removed intake manifold and found huge amounts of gunk ... clean yours all up and see what happens.

While I have not swapped my radio, yet, my understanding from the many posts (do a search) is that you can replace radio with aftermarket by running speaker wire from radio to behind back seat (where amps are) and splice into the radio wires there going from the amps to the speakers. Takes 4 pair, I think.

Good luck - keep us posted.

__________________
George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg