In a message dated 06/02/2007 10:00:25 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes: I'm confused, Frank. In a previous post this morning you said 20W50 is the required oil and then here you say you use 5W50. I challenge only because I'm about to change the oil that I just put in 15 miles ago because I'm lead to believe that it is a bit too heavy for these cold temps.
Mordo, you missed one very important part of that post. 20w50 is standard oil and 5w50 is full synthetic. There is no 5w50 standard oil so one of the solutions to cold weather starting is to use synthetic oils that come in 0w50 and 5w50 configurations. It's the 50 part of the oil that the waterboxer needs to have a long healthy life. The low part of the oil number is to aid in starting at cold temperatures. Now, all that said it is not always advisable to switch an old engine over to full synthetic as it "may" cause softening of the seals and therefore induce oil leaking problems. Some gamblers do it and win some loose. The lower the miles on the engine the better chance you have. Cheers, Frank Condelli Almonte, Ontario, Canada '87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) ) Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley _Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html) _Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm) _BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007 Cheers, Frank Condelli Almonte, Ontario, Canada '87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) ) Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley _Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html) _Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm) _BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007 |
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