Date:         Tue, 18 Mar 1997 17:29:02 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Frayed1003@aol.com
Subject:      Leaking synthetic oil?

Has anyone had any experience with changing to synthetic oil.  I read online
that synthetic will usually leak more at first because it cleans out all the
wax around your seals, leaving behind shrunken dry seals.  It said in this
article, not to worry because your dry seals will swell again and stop the
leak.  I switched to a semi-synthetic around 800 miles ago and my engine is
 really beginning to leak oil.  Does anyone know how long this should last?
 Being that I have an air-cooled I am beginning to think I may have made a
mistake, the smell is killing my girlfriend, she won't even ride in my westy
with me anymore.
My other concern with the leak is that maybe I am overfilling with oil.  When
I change my oil and filter the dipstick reads full after three quarts.  My
mechanic said the dipsticks aren't very accurate and to go ahead and put all
four in.  This makes the dipstick read as though it is a quart to full.  So
I've been waiting until the oil returns to the full notch then I add another
quart.  Am I going to hurt anything if I am to full?  If the reason for the
leak is from overfilling do you think I ruined the seals or is it possible
that it will stop leaking once the oil gets down to where it belongs?  Thanks
in advance and sorry to get so lengthy.  I'm just hoping the people at work
don't figure out who it is that is responsible for leaving puddles of oil
everywhere.