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First oil for rebuild air cooled engine in desert
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82VW
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Joined: May 12, 2012
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Location: Colorado
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:42 am    Post subject: First oil for rebuild air cooled engine in desert Reply with quote

Hi,

I'm about to put in my rebuilt 1982 vanagon air cool engine and I live in the desert of western Colorado. It's now summertime, so should I consider a 20/50 wt to get things started off now that the temps are reaching the 90s already?
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Microbusdeluxe Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's what I run in my air-cooled year round.
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dobryan
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did you have a shop do the rebuild with a waranty or did you rebuild it yourself? If a warranty is involved I'd get in writing from that shop what oil to use...
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Vango Conversions
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know it's kind of old school, but at least with aircraft engines they recommend breaking them in with non detergent straight weight oil. I've never actually done that with any of the engines i've built, but that was mostly because I couldn't find any locally and I didn't want to wait to order any. Might be a good idea to do the first start with some 30 or 40wt straight non detergent oil, break in the cam, and bomb around for an hour to seat the rings. Dump it out and run some regular 15w40 or 20w50 (I'd say 15w40 since it's fresh, but just pick something that works with your temp based on the vw recommendations). If you have an oil pressure gauge, running the thinnest oil that still maintains good oil pressure is generally best, you can later step up to the 20w50 as your bearings wear and your pressure goes down.

I like the idea of doing the very first oil change right away, as the first hour or so that an engine runs it's going to have the highest wear, plus you have all the little bits of crud left in there from machining and assembly. Once you get that initial slug of junk out of there you can go longer on the next change.
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We use Brad Penn break in oil on all new engines. It has the extra zinc needed for cam followers during break in. Run for an hour and dump. Realize when breaking in an engine you are seating the rings and breaking in the face of the cam and lifters. Anything other than that, and you have a problem. In other words, you are not breaking in the bearings, rods, and crank.
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bluebus86
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Break in oil is essential for long engine life. It is usally a striaght wieght oil, non-detergent, with high levels of zddp for cam break in.

this oil is often only used for break in period, as little as half an hour of run time. then it is often changed for more of the same break in oil for maybe 500 miles more or until the next cag, then your normal driving oil can be used, usually a detergent oil, stay away from super ligh oi,the old aircooled motor usually require thicker oils than new cars, (unless your in the artic)


You should have break in procedure for the newly built motor don't let her idle for the fisrt 20-30 minutes, you need to keep reving her.

using the right proceddure should allow proper setting of the rings and cam break in
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