Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 21:07:07 -0700
Reply-To: David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Engine Break-In Oil Weight
In-Reply-To: <BAY125-DAV5F0073BB2F9F2C88123AAA0440@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Very good question, Dennis. There is an embarrassing story about it.
My 83 westy suffered a head gasket failure when it was at about 35k miles.
My local VW dealer worked on it but it never really fixed it correctly.
When it was at about 80k miles I filed a complaint with BBB in California.
BBB contacted VWoA and got a deal for me to rebuild the heads for me and
I only had to pay 20% of the cost.
So the VW dealer replaced the cylinder heads with a pair of rebuild. They
did nothing to the damaged cylinders/pistons and rings. I couldn't get them
to do it again for me so I decided to put on a new liner myself. I did it
when the westy was at about 90k miles.
While assembling the pistons I managed to lose a piston pin clip into the block.
I could not get it out so I was forced to split the block and took the clip
out. The oil pump lost its oil because of that.
I then managed to start the engine without knowing the oil pump wasn't
pumping for 30 minutes. Well, during the 30 minutes the engine was on and off
all the time. The noise of dry rings rubbing against the cylinder wall was something
I will never forget. I finally found the oil warning light was steadily on...
By that time the rings were already ruined I think.
For the past 20+K miles I never got the rings to seat at all and the engine
kept on losing oil and never gained its power back. So I finally redo it again
two weeks ago. This time I made no same mistake any more. I only need to break
it in properly. This is why I only did the liner and nothing else. Actually
I had all lifters repacked. They were all fozen (stuck) for some reason.
This was also how I learned to find that hole to pour oil to prime the oil
pump. Without that the pump was able to pump air only.
David
--- Dennis <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
> The cylinders and liners failed and you think the rest of the engine is
> healthy? On what basis? What happened to the pistons? If they melted, it
> is possible that you have a warped and twisted mess.
>
> The concept of breaking in has little to do with wearing in to get some
> clearance and reduce friction. The goal is to get the high spots off the
> cylinders and rings so they can seat and form a seal using the oil.
> Regardless of viscosity, most off the shelf oil have so much in the way of
> friction reducing and anti-wear additives, that the choice makes little
> difference. I would use a light oil like 5 or 10w-30 to flush the debris
> and dirt out of the engine and change to whatever you plan to use before
> driving any distance. Change again in a few hundred miles. 20w-50 is the
> proper oil for most driving unless using a synthetic that has slightly
> different numbers such as Mobil 1 15w-50.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> David Kao
> Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 12:44 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Engine Break-In Oil Weight
>
> I have just put in a new set of cofap cylinder/piston liner into the
> engine of my 83 westy.
> Could you experts out there advise what oild weight I should put into the
> engine for breaking
> in the new liner? I have searched the archive. But I did not get clear
> advices there.
>
> My 83 westy only had 110k miles on the engine. It had a pair of cylinder
> heads (rebuilt)
> put in by a VW dealer around 80+k miles. So the heads are in very decent
> shape still. I did
> not touch the block. I assume it is OK at only 110k miles. So I went ahead
> to replace
> only the liner.
>
> I realized that oil weight may be critical for breaking in a new liner
> after I had poured
> into my enige 20-50w oil. I had started up the engine and drove about 5
> total miles so far.
> I had done 1/2- 3/4 throttle load on 2nd gear to rev up and down for half
> a dozen times.
> I now wonder if I had a wrong weight of oil in the engine trying to break
> it in.
>
> I hope it's not too late to make a correction now. The friction of the new
> liner is still
> obvoiusly high meaning it still needs to be broken in.
>
> David
>
>
>
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