Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 20:19:21 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes57@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes57@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
Subject: Re: Oil Pressure Test Results
Those oil pressure reading s are about normal, but you need to consider
viscosity. What weight are you using? Also, although you waited for the
fan to cycle which indicates a warm engine, you need to run the van at Hi
way speeds to get the oil to it's normal operating temperature. Even with
the oil cooler, the oil will usually get hotter than the water at high
speed. Especially at 70 mph or more. I have measure oil temps of 270 on a
normally operating engine. I think that this is a major contributor to the
rubber head gaskets failing. Just think, you drive on the highway, shut
the engine off, the cooling system is no longer working. That hot oil now
radiates to the rest of the engine, (heat soak). Gaskets now well above
200f. Rubber hardens, then eventually fails. My camper is equipped with a
big oil cooler with thermostat. After long runs, I always let engine idle
down for minute or two before turning off. Not sure if all this helps but
my camper now has 156k hard miles and the heads have not been touched except
for that retorque recall. Buy the way, I use Mobil 1 15-50 and the oil
temp with the cooler stays between 190 and 210 except on very hot days with
the AC on or long hill climbs through the Rockies.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: KENWILFY <KENWILFY@AOL.COM>
To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM <Vanagon@VANAGON.COM>
Date: Monday, April 06, 1998 10:17 PM
Subject: Oil Pressure Test Results
>I did an oil pressure test on my Vanagon today and I think the results are
the
>ones that I am looking for but not totally sure 'cause I don't have a
Bentley
>yet. Here goes:
>Startup - 60 psi at 850-900 rpms
>30 min later with fan cycling 5 or 6 times
>12 psi at 800-900 rpms (850 really)
>29 psi at 2000 rpms.
>Are these the numbers I should be getting?
>I also got two of my pressure senders today from my local foreign FLAPS.
Both
>senders were $12. One of them says nothing on it and the other says "1.6
to
>2.0 bar". I think the one that says nothing is the below 2000 rpms sender
and
>the other one is the above 2000 rpms sender but I am not sure. This parts
>store has given me the wrong part so many times that I really don't trust
them
>so could one of you parts gurus please give me the proper numbers? Thanks
in
>advance.
>Testing the pressure was alot easier than I thought. I bought a pressure
>gauge kit ($12) and removed the tin from under the engine on the driver's
>side. Then removed the sender found there. Screwed in the line fitting
and
>started testing. It was a manual gauge by the way.
>I have heard that it is a pain to replace the above 2000 rpms sender and
that
>alot of dealers were just bending a pin on the sender control unit and
>eliminating the > 2000 rpms sender altogether. You still would get a red
>light from the other sender if your oil pressure was truely low (like all
the
>other VW before '85) but you wouldn't get all the false alarms that you get
>with the two sender setup.
>Anyone else know if this is a good idea or not?
>Thanks
>Ken Wilford
>John 3:16
>
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