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Date:         Thu, 9 May 1996 18:56:22 -0500 
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vwbus@TCPBBS.COM
Subject:      Re: Which fluids are best?

Well I'll jump right in.

Motor oil: Mobil 1 20W50 summer, winter their 10W30, what I run in the G60, though admittedly in buses I go Shell Rotella T 15W40 year round, maybe Valvoline 10W30 if really cold. Never Quaker State IMHO in any VW, all VW hydraulic lifters I have ever ran Quaker State in have clattered mercilessly, FWD and bus, problem litterly stopped immediately after I went to regular Valvoline in an '89 Jetta, just 1 persons experience take it FWIW. Oh recently in the '78 Ive been using WALMART Tech 2000 15W40 with ? results, doesn't clatter though and a bit cheaper than Rotella. BTW we ran QS for years, dad always bought it on sale, always wondered why lifters were noisy, asked our 25+ year VW mechanic, he said what oil U use we told him he said switch and resulting true Jetta story above.

Gear lube: VW synthetic, conned them into putting it in the Corrado nice stuff, but at $32+/qt I'd think toward. Redline MTL or MT90 for buses and FWD respectively $7.50/qt, after that I'd still use any ole GL4 oil before I'd put something else in, even a GL4, GL5, GL6 rated.

Final Drive: for 4wd only I guess, Redline also has some GL5 rated stuff likely appropriate, thoug MTL might do as well.

Coolant: VW blue if you want to pay the price. Round here Prestone Long Life if you don't. BTW ZEREX's super stuff dissapeared anywhere around me in WV about 6 months after it first appeared a few years back is this an everywhere trend or just here? Redline water wetter as an additive? an ounce of prevention and all and only about $5.

CV lube: now I know Joel will swear just any ole moly EP rated tub o grease, which in fact is what my '78 has, but I will interject upon speaking extensively to a guy at Transform and to a local CV rebuilder, and taking Automotions Porsche advice. I would go first with SWEPCO super moly stuff, only about $14 the 14oz tube, and I swear this stuff has a difference you can see, smell, and feel, especially when trying to get it out of clothes (not scientific I know). Then I would go VW stuff at $12/tube then regular tub o moly at $3/tube. Again its priority in a $300 front outer Syncro CV I would use $14/tube grease happily in my '78 I'm hardly as discerning. For intermediates Castrol I think has a new syntetic stuff out their a lot more moly in appearance than regular moly EP, has another NLGI rating regular moly EP does not (in fact has the same 2 ratings VW and SWEPCO carry) and costs maybe $5/tube.

Windshield Washer: reaching here but I'll tell you all that new yellow Prestone winter stuff sure works a lot better cold in an air cooled bus with little heat in the middle of a 25F blizzard than does the ole blue alcohol stuff. Don't know about the summer green stuff, for summer I'll stick to $1/gallon instead of $3.50/gallon

Brake fluid: VW, NOT!! OEM by Pentosin, VW wants $8 the pint, my local guy sells genuine Pentosin $12/qt. A lot of Corrado guys swear by this as the best DOT4, it or ATE super blue?. Personally I go Castrol GT/LMA low moisture absorbtion if you believe them the only widely available DOT4 which VW does spec BTW and at WALMART only $1.70 per 12 oz as opposed to $1 for cheapy DOT3 so I splurge the extra $.70.

Power steering: early any ole Dexron Mercon ATF, late the same import guy sells Pentosin made Audi/VW compatible fill for $10/qt. Beats the crap out of VW price on their "hydraulic oil" surely though never mix ATF and the later stuff.

General Lube: change everything you can to tub O moly, get that lithium crap off now, believe me anyone who has dealt with 20 year old rock hard stickier than glue VW lithium will attest to this. Moly stuff seems to last better and resists water much better, particularly good on shift linkages (a VW rec in later years BTW) and sliding door tracks. However obviouly for things like front beams on our pre '79 moly is likely a no go as it is INCOMPATIBLE with regular lithium based stuff, for these and other places I've been wondering about the new MOBIL1 and Valvoline Sythetics 1 is blue, 1 pink, sort of cute baby colors if nothing else carry more NLGI ratings, who knows might age better as well and lithium compatible.

Interior beverage, Coke Classic.

These are again one poor VW owning idiots opinions and are as always worth exactly everything you paid for em.

John vwbus@tcpbbs.com


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