When I had the new rings installed about 30,000 miles ago I was unaware of the need for a breakin oil. I did use dinasour oil, usually 10-40 until I read that was not a good choice for a Vanagon. However, I like Daniel Katz's suggestion to switch back to Mobil 1. I might as well anyway because Pennzoil 5-50 seems to be unavailable. It will not be possible to fully replicate driving conditions because I was travelling in the NW spending much of the time in the mountains when I obtained the improved oil usage with Pennzoil 5-50. I will keep your addresses in my file and let you know what happens. May take a while. I won't be putting on a lot of miles in the near future. Dan R. 89 Westy
Daniel L. Katz wrote: >dan > >to make this convincing, why not switch back to mobil 1 and see if old >pattern returns, keeping driving similar, of course. incidently, my >understanding is that new rings do not seat as well using synthetic oil. > >dan > > Generally speaking, break-in on a new engine is done with a straght 30 wt. non-detergent motor oil as a break-in oil . This intentionally allows more wear of the microsopic contact surfaces on the metals so that parts seat to a closer fit - "seating in" as it were. Once worn to closer tolerances multigrade oil - synthethic or otherwise - is put in to the engine to provde the lubrication in the closer tolerances. During the break-in period parts tend to "work-harden", particularly rings and cylinder barrels, and then can no longer "wear in", so proper break-in is critical, because if not done correctly, you wind up with an oil burner and all the oil swappig in the world is not going to help. Regards, John Rodgers 88 GL Driver |
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