Date:         Tue, 21 May 1996 09:37:31 MST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Mike White" <MIKE.WHITE@law.utah.edu>
Subject:      How not to Change your Oil - All better now! [long]

Howdy!

The Pioneer once again graces the streets of scenic Alpine, Utah!

Well I must first stop and thank everyone for their help regarding my 
little oil change trauma that I experienced last Friday!  Here's how 
the repair went:

As I explained, I snapped off the stud for the sump plate.  My luck 
made sure that it was the one that is long and wierd (which has a nut 
on the top--the stud closest to the front of the engine).

I stopped by the local "We have everything including all the bitchin-
sano trash you'd ever want, Dude" vw parts store on my way home 
Friday.  


"Uhhh...  Like we don't have those"

"So you're telling me you have flourescent green mud flaps BUT NO 
SUMP PLATE STUDS!?!"

"Yeah."

"Do you have any ideas where I could get them?"

"Try Taylor's"

So off I go, I had no idea where Taylor's was and wasn't about to 
ask.  So I decided to go home and try tomorrow.  But here's where 
things just started to go right!

I decided to get on the freeway at the next entrance rather than the 
one I usually use.  So as I drove down the street, there it was!  On 
the right!  Taylor's machine.  WOW!  Someone is watching over me.

I pulled in and was waited on after a couple of minutes.  I show him 
the broken stud.

"Oooh.  Dunno if we have those.  And if we do we only sell them 
in boxes.  I'll see what I can do for ya."

I think to myself, ack, I don't really want to buy 25 or 50 studs.  
But I'm desparate enough to do it!

He comes back with a small box, and opens it up.  It's got six 
6mm bolts in it.  I explain again that I'm after studs.  

"Oh.  Sorry."

So I think to myself, what the dub, I'll just buy the bolts and hack 
the tops off.  $2.15 later I'm out of there with my soon-to-be studs.

Saturday morning rolls around, and I'm out there to fix the Pioneer.  

I find the hacksaw and chop the bolt.  I was really worried that I'd 
mess up the threads, but it goes really cleanly.  The bench grinder 
gets the shards off.  The nut goes easily on and off!

The Pioneer sits there anxiously having dripped another cup of oil 
out overnight (since there's no sump plate on her).  I clean that up 
and get some new cardboard to lay on.

I'm dreading the thought of getting that nut on.  It's going to be 
impossible to twist the stud in and hold that nut up there and get it 
on with only about a quarter-inch to work with.  My fingers are just 
to big to hold the nut up in there.

I decided to go check my email to see if anyone on the list has some 
sage advice.  I run inside and spend a few minutes getting my system 
to log in here at work and POP my mail off...  and there it is...

The greatest single piece of advice I've ever received.  I don't have 
the message here, but I salute the sender ever so humbly.  "Tie a 
piece of thread through the nut so you won't lose it in the engine."
What a timely revelation!

Out I run to the bus.  And here's where things just went so right, 
St. Muir must have been helping me out.

The stud threads in perfectly.  I'm able to use the string from my 
mom's sewing stuff to hold the nut taught and screw in the stud until 
it is all perfect.  Back out the stud so that the nut locks down 
on the case and it's fixed!  Bust off the thread and it's done!

I replace the oil screen, sump plate, etc. and realize one bummer!  I 
busted that stud off in the cap-nut and don't have another one.  But 
I was not to be disappointed.  I found the busted capnut where I 
threw it after I bashed my glasses and nose when it broke.  I decide 
"what the heck, I'll try to get the broken stud out.  Throw the nut in 
the ratchet, and try my luck at twisting it out with a screwdriver.  
The broken stud comes right out!

On goes the nut, in goes the oil, and Vroom starts the bus!

It was truly the most painless fix I've ever had!  So remember this:
Something does go right!  For the scores of problems I've had that 
have been a total pain to fix, I finally had an easy one!

---

Concerning oils.  Thanks for the response about what oils you are all 
using.  Many people responded extoling the virtues of Castrol.  

I felt a lot easier dumping that stuff in the engine.  I'm still not 
convinced that I should run multi-viscosity oil (and definately no 
synthetics) in an air-cooled, but so far the Castrol SAE30 is 
treating me right (well the engine hasn't seized yet!)

Maybe you'll ween me off Penzoil yet...

- Mike White 

[Mail: mike.white@law.utah.edu   -   mwhite@eng.utah.edu]
Visit my '57 23-Window VW BUS at: [http://cloud8.law.utah.edu/]