Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 15:33:45 -0400
Reply-To: Jay L Snyder <Jay.L.Snyder@USA.DUPONT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jay L Snyder <Jay.L.Snyder@USA.DUPONT.COM>
Subject: Re: [ATF] Synthetic? Any one try it?
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We did you keep going back?
Alan Ruffalo <aruffalo@SPRYNET.COM> on 04/10/2001 03:02:50 PM
Please respond to Alan Ruffalo <aruffalo@SPRYNET.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
cc: (bcc: Jay L Snyder/AE/DuPont)
Subject: Re: [ATF] Synthetic? Any one try it?
I ran Mobil 1 (5-50W) in Southern California from 92,000 miles to 175,000
miles (changed the oil and filter every 2000 to 2500 miles) when I lost the
engine due to a coolant hose breaking while my daughter was driving my 88
Westy. She continued to drive it and the red oil light did not come on due
to some incorrect electrical work done on the Westy by McKenna VW in
Norwalk, CA. after it was broken into for the radio. The 88 Westy ran
strong
and was very healthy until this happened. Without the oil light coming on
she had no idea that the VW was out of water. It finally froze up and
stopped running. Prior to this incident the VW ran like a new vehicle.
The Mobil 1 seemed to work fine and the VW ran fine all the time I was
doing
this. I ended up installing a complete new engine as opposed to a rebuilt
short block. I am very happy with the results and after 10,000 miles on the
new engine (my next oil change - I will switch back to Mobil 1).
It was recommended by my mechanic that I not use a synthetic oil on
breaking
in the new engine.
The van now runs like the day I bought it (brand new).
I do have one question. The new engine seems to be overfilled when I fill
the oil mark up the top of the two part mark on dipstick. It will smoke
something terrible until it burns the oil off the bottom notch. I have a
feeling that there is something wrong with the measurement of the new
dipstick. It seems to take too much oil with the new dipstick. I remember
my
mechanic saying that he accidentally broke my old dipstick and had to buy a
new one. Is it possible that he installed the wrong oil dipstick?
He is out of business and I can't contact him on this matter now.
Does anybody know the correct measurements on the "High & Low" marks on the
oil dipstick.
I would like to know the measurements from the bottom of the dipstick to
the
low oil mark and then to the top mark (high oil mark notch) on the oil
dipstick. One mechanic thought that he might not have removed the old O'
Ring in the engine case when he installed the oil tube on my new engine.
There was the thought that the two O' Rings might have changed the
measurements on the dipstick reading. I don't know this new mechanic and I
don't know if I should put any stock in that theory.
Most likely - the new dipstick is not the right dip stick. I have been
surprised at the number of mistakes that have come out of McKenna VW on my
Westy. They seemed to do everything wrong on the Westy first time around
and
I had to take it back to correct whatever they did. They often did these
corrections without giving me any paperwork ( which I thought was unusual).
One time after the Westy had been with them for three weeks for repair
while
I was traveling - I found out that the McKenna help was having lunch in my
Westy. When I got the Westy back - it was full of bread crumbs and even had
a beer cap in the tachometer well on the dashboard and a big grease stain
on
the rear seat. The car also had several hundred miles more on the
speedometer ( which they justified by saying they had to drive the vehicle
to find out the problem). They never did find the problem and I had to take
it to a private mechanic who found the problem within five minutes of
looking at the engine. It seems that dealerships can't work on Vanagons.
They might be good on new vehicles but they sure can't fix a Vanagon. I
made
some hefty dollar sum payments paying for their educations to try and fix
it
though.
Alan Ruffalo
88 Westy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Mathis" <CMathis227@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 4:33 AM
Subject: Re: [ATF] Synthetic? Any one try it?
> I've been running Mobil 1 ATF for about 20K miles now. No complaints.
Since
> I've got low mileage I won't be able to tell if this was a good idea or
bad
> for another 80K or 90K miles!
>
> Chuck
> '85 Wolfsburg Westy -- 'Roland the Road Buffalo'