It seems like the larger of the two washers we get in oil filter kits match almost exactly the diameters needed for ALDA shims. Has anyone used these with success? They're free and we get them all the time.

Of course they may be a little thick....look to be about 1.4mm, which would be the equivalent of two turns of the set screw.

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I think I used that for a while, but ended up just taking the ALDA off.
If you shim too high it's the same as taking the ALDA off.

__________________
Cheers!
Scott McPhee

1987 300D

What Scott said. 2 turns is basically like having no ALDA. Not a bad way to go so you don't lose the ALDA in a garage like mine and you keep the IP fitting clean.

You can sand down the washer evenly to the shim size you need. While it has the same effect, I don't believe shimming and adjusting are technically the same thing. Shimming repositions the ALDA relative to the IP while turning the set screw changes the sensitivity of the ALDA. Again, it might have the same effect, but it's not the same thing. To wit, why did Bosch design the ALDA to have both shims and an adjustment screw?

Sixto
87 300D^2