Date:         Thu, 18 Aug 94 10:02:11 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Synthetic oil

On Thu, 18 Aug 94 09:50:14 CDT <RGOLEN@umassd.edu> said:
>The cam area was nice and clean, there were no discernable wear
>marks on the cam. No I did not measure it. I did a quick check
>on the cylinder walls by running my fingernail up and down
>the bore. Basically smooth with only the slightest ridge at
>the top of the bore.

but this is the same that i found on my old 1971 bus at 88,000 ... after
#3 exhaust valve died (because i 'read' the books wrong and didn't get the
valves replaced at 70,000 miles), when we took the engine apart, the cylinder
walls looked like new and all the rocker assemblies and crank ... well,
except for where pieces of the broken piston had messed it up.

my own Not-Too-Humble opinon is that the oil chosen should be a 'good' one,
from a long-established company (not Bubba's Cruising Crude, at $0.49/quart)
and that the oil and filter should be changed on a frequent and regular
basis.  i'm not THAT convinced that it makes a lot of difference which of
the brands you choose: castrol, kendall, havoline, shell, mobil, valvoline,
etc.

that is, the BEST thing would probably be to change the oil/filter every
month. but that would soon get to be somewhat more trouble and expense than
most of us want to put up with ... and might not be doing THAT much extra
good. every other month? every third month?

the best rule-of-thumb that i ever heard was:
change your oil every 3000 miles or three months, whichever comes first.
2000 miles or two months in the winter.

joel
>
>Ric