Official "What oil / additives should I use" topic

[vwracerdave]

Use whatever oil you want. I guarantee you get to keep all the broken pieces.

Diesel oils SHOULD NOT be used in gasoline engines.
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2017 Street Comp Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble, OK
2010 Sportsman ET Champion - Mid-America Dragway - Arkansas City, KS
1997 Sportsman ET Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble ,OK
Featured in Dec. 2001 HOT VW's Magazine page 63

Watch my racing video's http://www.youtube.com/user/okvwracer/videos

[Cubey]

[Wildthings]

[Cubey]

[Wildthings]

[vwracerdave]

All you talk about is your alphabet soup letter ratings. There is a lot more to oil than just the starburst letter or ZDDP number. Diesel oils DO NOT have the proper detergents to clean the residual pollutions gasoline produce. Diesel oils DO NOT have the correct anti-foaming agents needed for the whipping and aeration from the higher RPM a gasoline engine turns. There is something else about acids and sulphurs that I don't understand well enough to explain them.

Use whatever shit you want in your engine. I don't care how it blows up.
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2017 Street Comp Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble, OK
2010 Sportsman ET Champion - Mid-America Dragway - Arkansas City, KS
1997 Sportsman ET Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble ,OK
Featured in Dec. 2001 HOT VW's Magazine page 63

Watch my racing video's http://www.youtube.com/user/okvwracer/videos

[Cubey]

[Wildthings]

[vamram]

Not an authority here by any means. I've used Rotella T6 in my "stock" 1600dp on multiple 2,500+ mile road trips. I've done this in both very hot Florida summers and cooler winters. I keep highway speeds at 65-70. No foaming whatsoever.
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Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
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Save the Supers!!

[scottyrocks]

After almost 8 billion posts, I think it's safe to say that any modern automotive oil will be safe for acVWs as long as it's changed on time, and meets the pressure and ambient temperature requirements of these cars.

Neeeeeext! haha
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“If you care for a thing long enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn't it? Mending old things, preserving them, looking after them – on some level there's no rational grounds for it.”
– D. Tartt, 'The Goldfinch'

[Bruce]

[Klinger74]

Just had a thought - maybe it's already been suggested?

Has anyone thought of using lawn mower engine oil? Tractor supply carries the CountyLine brand (So does Do-it-Best and other online sources) that's $30/gal and made specifically for lawn mower engines. It at least comes in 30 wt and 10w-30, maybe couple other weights. Considering it's made for air-cooled, high(er) RPM, flat tappet engines (even new ones, I think), I'm thinking the application should be similar enough to an A/C VW. I don't have ZDDP info, but it says it meets Kohler's requirements, and Kohler oil has a ZDDP of 1200, from what I can find.

Just throwing it out there. If noone can think of a significant detriment to using it, I might switch over to it for our VWs.
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'74 Standard Beetle, mostly Stock 1600 DP, Manual trans

[NASkeet]

Sometime in circa 1985 or 1986, I bought a job-lot of about 20 litres, of heavily-discounted (circa £4•50 or £5•00 instead of circa £12•50 per 4-litre can - approximately 1 US gallon) Mobil 1 SAE 5W/50, API SF or SG fully-synthetic lubricating oil from the local Mobil franchised petrol filling station of Key Markets supermarket, on Canvey Island, Essex, England.

When using conventional mineral oil (SAE 30 monograde or SAE 20/50, 15/50 or 10/40 etc multigrade) in the AD-Series, twin-port, VW 1600 Type 1 Beetle style air-cooled engine, of my family's 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan, the oil turned from light-straw colour to virtually black with dark-grey glutinous sludge, after 3,000 miles of use, when the next oil-change was due. The oil-consumption rate was circa 1 litre per 1,000 miles and one often noticed the acrid smell of oxidised oil, when opening the engine-compartment hatch.

However, when Mobil 1, SAE 5W/50, API SF or SG fully-synthetic oil was used, it changed in colour from ultra-light straw to light-straw after 3,000 miles, with NO sludge formation whatsoever. The oil-consumption rate was reduced to circa 1 litre per 3,000 to 4,000 miles and there was no acrid smell of oxidised oil, when opening the engine-compartment hatch.

The 5W viscosity cold-starting characteristic, also made starting much easier in cold weather, but I suspect it led to oil being diverted through the oil-cooler prematurely, owing to the relatively low viscosity at low temperatures.

On cold English winter days when the ambient air temperature was close to ZERO degrees Celcius, the oil-pressure with Mobil 1, SAE 5W/50 oil at start-up from cold, was typically around 4•0 Bar, but reduced quite rapidly to 3•0 Bar after a few minutes; remaining at a stable 3•0 Bar under normal driving speeds, on urban roads, cross-country rural back roads & trunk roads and motorways. At idle, waiting at road junctions, the oil-pressure was stable at 1•0 Bar. All oil-pressure measurements were taken using my dashboard-mounted, 52 mm VDO Cockpit 0~5 Bar oil-pressure gauge.

Sometime during the 1990s, I came across the following leaflet pertaining to synthetic & semi-synthetic lubricating oils for petrol and diesel engines. What caught my eye was the test results for a VW Beetle 1302, Type 1 style air-cooled engine.

I sent a copy of this leaflet to Neil Birkitt (with whom I have sporadically corresponded since the early-1990s and who has published some of my material), then the editor or assistant editor, of the British magazine VW Motoring, who subsequently paid a visit to Miller's Oils and published a short review article in the magazine, of which I have a copy somewhere.

Miller's Oils Leaflet with VW Beetle 1302 test results

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/millers_oils.php

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Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

http://www.vwt2oc.net

[Stocknazi]

[Wildthings]

[KingAir42]

Just wondering why up to 1970 was 30w the highest viscosity oil printed in the owners manuals for summer use, then from 1971 onwards they added 40w as the highest viscosity summer oil. Pretty sure 40w existed before 1970, was it a single/dual port difference?
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A stitch in time saves nine

[oprn]

[KingAir42]

[pgtips]

[Wildthings]