Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 19:50:43 -0400
Reply-To: tmiller <tmiller@VCMAILS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: tmiller <tmiller@VCMAILS.COM>
Subject: Re: semi-sorta-somewhat related to oil and viscosity and such ...
In-Reply-To: <006001c448ea$4b9946e0$d4ed79a5@jw1dy3621>
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Joel:
These are vanagon's we are talking about. I have to check my engine
compartment regularly just to make sure there are no coolant leaks. Not
worrying about the oil other than the level is one less thing to worry
about.
Joel Walker wrote:
>one thing to remember ...
>
>the longer the oil change interval you choose, whether for synthetics
>or dino oils, the longer the time between looks under the engine.
>:( this means YOU don't get to see small problems before they become
>big problems.
>
>in the old days, we had to adjust the valves on our buses every other
>month or so. which was ok, cause we had to change the oil in the
>engine anyway, and there was always that last half-quart left over for
>the air filter. yup. oil bath air filter. :) worked great, big mess to
>clean up if you lived in dusty areas. ;)
>
>so every other month or so, you had to crawl around under the engine,
>adjusting this and draining that, and just basically looking. you
>could see the cv joint boots and the transmission and all sorts of
>things that needed looking at now and again.
>
>then came hydraulic valve lifters. we didn't have to adjust valves on
>a regular schedule now. so we quit crawling around under the engine.
>little problems went unnoticed ... until they got big enough to grab
>your attention on some dark road late at night. :( and one sorta minor
>problem that grew out of this was valve cover gaskets. in the valve
>adjustment days, we always replaced the valve cover gaskets. that kept
>oil from leaking out onto the heater boxes.
>but with no valves to adjust, we ignored the gaskets. and finally,
>after 5000 or more miles, they'd get dried out and start leaking ...
>and we'd get really upset at having to replace something like that.
>on the watercooled engines, the gaskets last even longer before they
>start leaking. but eventually, they'll leak. because we learned to
>ignore them. like the valves.
>
>funny thing is, the valve cover gaskets for the watercooled (and
>aircooled) engines are exactly the same as for the old beetle engines.
>:)
>
>anyway, just a reminder: every now and then, look at the belly of the
>beast; see what's dripping and what's dragging and fix that sagging
>brake cable to the rear wheel. :)
>
>unca joel
>
>
>
>
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