synthetic oils

[Eaallred]

My dad gets moly oil from his work (gold mine in northern Nevada). From what he tells me, it's about the best you can get. They use it at the mines in everything they can, because the less downtime equipement has, the less money they loose from it. Those 3 story tall dumptrucks don't turn off from the time they are started up with the new motor to the time they pull the motor to rebuild it. 24 hours a day, non-stop. Big money can be lost when something breaks down. If someone that has this much money depending on the stuff believes in it, I wouldn't second guess it either. I have no idea where to buy it here in SLC though.
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Eric Allred

You have to remember something: Everybody pities the weak; Jealousy you have to earn.

[ratwell]

There are a lot of products from other industries that are probably good for VWs. The trick is finding it in quantities less than a 55 gallon drum and getting it shipped for the cost of a trip to the auto parts store.
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'78 Westfalia CDN
'76 Doublecab
Read the Baywindow FAQ

[erbis]

when i was using it in my gti i was getting it at an all import parts place down the road as an additive in a little can, but when i moved west i had to order it off the web from a vw watercooled online distributor and i can't remember the name now, but it will come up in a search engine if you type in Lubromoly, and it comes in a big jug, already in the oil. it is pretty expensive but you can tell a difference like 5 miles down the road. when i was buying it at the little import parts supplier, all the guys who worked there swore by it. maybe i'll put up another post and see if anyone responds who has used it in their aircooled vw.

[toyfield]

This is one of our first times on the form reply but we have our new data on our 68 stock S/P 1600 DC that we do load heavy a lot and do many miles. Just used castrol 5-50w for the first time with oil temp gauge ( No head temp gauge ) and the oil temp is down almost 10 degrees f with very similar running conditions. As we do only about 3300 RPMs 54 mph tops. We have serviced the motor at 1500 miles and are still trying to justify the increased cost on Synthetic oil, but it is simpler to increase the motor life at a little cost at a time ( May BE ). It is hard to tell but we may have a small increase in power as we did pass more big trucks on the ridge route ( in CA. ) because we never pass any one other than bicycles He He !
Hope this adds to good information
P & C

[hansh]

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I'm considering a switch to synthetics. We live in Central Oregon and any way you want to leave town, your engine is in for a beating. Really, to the East is hours of highway/freeway, to the South is hours of highway/freeway with some passes, and to the North and West are numerous, nasty, mountain passes. We frequently go to the coast. It is about 5.5 hours in the Van and depending on which way we go, we must endure about 3 to 5 mountain passes EACH WAY along with nasty winds until we get to the West side of the Cascades. I know that after an hour and a half of headwinds on the highway followed by two mountain passes just to have hours more highway and passes, the engine really needs every advantage it can get to stay cool.

In my learning how to work on my type 4 engines, for different reasons, we had never made a trip to the coast and back without me having to drop the engine for something when we got back home. Until our last trip. I had finally done a slow and careful rebuild on the engine and spent most of the time cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning some more. The payoff is the coolest running engine that I've ever been responsible for. We made it to the coast and back with an engine that still works!!

Anyway, I really learned the value of a clean, cool engine. This engine is, by far, not perfect inside because I used old parts on much of the engine due to a really tight budget. It really sounds like synthetic would be the right thing for me. I want that engine as cool as possible. Since I finally have an engine without leaks, I'm willing to spend the extra money.

If we lived in an area in which we were closer to our destinations with easy flat road in between, I don't know that I'd care. But, since it is such a trial for the van just to go to the coast, or to Idaho to visit family, I think synthetic is just what this engine would want (although I've never asked it directly). We have a big trip to North Idaho (up near the Canadian border) coming in about a month, and I'll make a switch before we leave.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to present intelligent and well thought out advice in this thread. Particularly Richard, Eric, and Tram (name?), and Randy.

Hans

[Amskeptic]

[Tram]

If regular oil works for you, that's fine. Synthetic oils DO NOT cause leaks, with the exception of Royal Purple. Another benefit is that synthetics are cleaner and don't cause sludge build- up. I just tore down a Mercedes 380 V8 with 340K on it (timing chain bit it, bending valves.) We've been servicing it for the last 6 years with Castrol Syntec 5W- 50. At that mileage, ALL WE HAD TO DO was replace the bent exhaust valves, replace the timing chain, tensioner, and guide rails. reinstalled everything with new gaskets and she runs like new. The customer was prepared to pay for a complete lower end, etc. but DIDN'T need it! Before I used Syntec for the first time in 1989, I was a CONFIRMED Wolf's Head man, back from the days at VW.
Synthetic oils WILL cause leaks if you have a rope main seal, and CAN cause leaks if your engine is held together with sealant and no gaskets. the only car I've serviced that reacted badly to Syntec was a 56 300SL. It had a rope main seal! I use it in ALL the German cars, including diesels.
American cars use rope seals and sealer instead of real gaskets quite often, and it is mainly American car owners who have horrorstories to tell about synthetics. Like I said, I've used Syntec EXCLUSIVELY in thousands of German cars I've serviced over the years with that damn 300SL being the only tough customer.
By the way, we switched the 300SL back to conventional oil and the rear seal stopped leaking WITHOUT replacing it.