Date:         Wed, 17 Aug 1994 14:15:26 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Alistair Bell <ui775@freenet.victoria.bc.ca>
Subject:      Oil pressure and filter from dealer


	A couple of weeks ago I decided to change my oil and
	try synthetic. So I goes to my local Walmart and picked
	up some Castrol 5W-50 Syntec, (Walmart here seems to have
	a limited selection of brands and viscosity), then on
	to THE LOCAL VW DEALER! argh. I asked for a filter
	for a '92 Jetta ('cause thats the engine I got), and
	the parts guy handed me this weeney little AUTOBAHN
	brand filter. I asked him if this was the right one,
	it seems awfully small, but he assured me it was correct
	and that the bigger one in the display cabinet
	was for the diesel model.
	Why did I go to the dealer for a filter? Well my mind
	was buzzing with oil faqs and correct valving...
	So I change my oil and filter, (the synthetic when
	poured down the plastic funnel would sometimes make
	little splash drops that would spiral down on the 
	film of oil on the funnel, appearing frictionless,
	neat), and start the van. After a couple of minutes,
	the pressure came up and I was happy.
	Driving with synthetic, I noticed that the oil
	pressure was 5-8 psi higher than with reg oil.
	But soon after a strange thing occurred. Starting
	the van first thing in the morning, or after
	a couple of hours rest, the oil pressure would not
	come up immediately, in fact it sometimes took
	up to 45 seconds! Once up, all was fine.
	It didn't happen all the time, but occurred more
	frequently after 10 days.
	My mechanic and I were puzzled, but before dropping
	the pan he suggested changing back to reg. oil.
	I did this, and no change. So then I changed the filter
	for one of those big FRAM HP-1s. The problem was solved.

	The moral of the story is: don't trust any part, even
	new ones from the dealer.

	I haven't taken the AUTOBAHN filter back yet, but I shall.

	Alistair