Date:         Tue, 18 Sep 2001 17:14:20 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@SLS.BC.CA>
Organization: Shawnigan Lake School
Subject:      Re: Synthetic Oil
In-Reply-To:  <00f201c13ff5$e0d0c400$d42bd5d1@hotlava>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

On 17 Sep 2001 at 17:56, Mick Kalber wrote:

> > For those of you using Mobil1 or other synthetic oil, how long are you
> running between oil
> > changes? <
>
>
> I started using synthetic in my 89 syncro westy immedately upon purchase a
> little over a year ago.  She had only 38,500 miles on her at that time.  Ran
> beautifully and changed the oil at 5K.  They say you can run til 7,500, but
> it makes me a little nervous, so Ido it earlier.
>
> Only problems with the synthetic is the size of the molecules... I guess
> that's what makes for less friction and allows the engine to run more
> smoothly and efficiently.  But that also means the oil can find its way out
> of the engine more easily.  In my case "Daddeo" did not leak, but simply
> used more oil than I thought appropriate... about a quart every 1,000 miles
> or so.  She does not smoke or anything, and my mech says the oil is so thin
> it's just slipping by the pistons (make sense?).
>
> Anyway, compression is excellent... van runs perfectly.  So I've switched to
> a synthetic blend in the hopes of getting the synthetic benefit without
> using quite so much oil.  That stuff is expensive you know!  Still plan on
> changing at 5K though.

You don't mention what type of synthetic you're using, but my
experience with Mobil 1 has been excellent - in 4 years of running
Mobil 1 15w50, I used almost no oil, at most about 1/2 qt in 8000 km,
which is about a year for me. I also change it only once a year, at the
end of each summer before parking it.
Last fall I switched to Amsoil 15w40 diesel oil, and am finding I am
using a bit more oil, but I also seem to have developed a rear mail seal
leak since then... :-(
I'm hoping to replace the engine with a TD before I have to worry about
the oil leak... :-)


========================
Shawn Wright
Computer Systems Manager
Shawnigan Lake School
http://www.sls.bc.ca
swright@sls.bc.ca