Air cooled VW's

[LarryL]

What oil are you using in an air cooled VW bug or bus? What are your driving condition and how often to you change the oil?

 

[Shannow]

my former boss had a long string of Kombis (1600?) that he'd owned forever. He found M1 15W-50 at 5000km gave him the longest engine life.

I still think that M1 V-Twin would be a goer in these.

 

[Lazy JW]

Castrol 10w-30 in the winter, 20w-50 in the summer. 2K ICI, no filter. Air-cooled VW's are MUCH more sensitive to ambient temperature variations than most water-cooled engines, hence the wide range of oil viscosity between winter and summer.
Joe

 

[Lazy JW]

Oops, that's 2K OCI, not ICI. Apparently I cannot edit on this forum. Sorry about the typo.
Joe

 

[Ben Boyle]

Mobil 1 15-50 in my fresh Beetle 1600 engine with a spin on oil filter.

 

[DOC]

I will be taking delivery on one here in the next few weeks the builder recommended Castrol 10-30 with 3,000 mile oil changes and valve adjustments every 6,000. It will have a spin on filter with an over size oil cooler. Coupled to a "freeway flyer transmission".

 

[LarryL]

I'm looking at building a new engine for an early bus. It's going to be a 2400cc Type 1, with hydraulic lifters, dual Webers, full flow oil filter/cooler and 911 style fan and shourd. The new fan pushes enough air (three times stock) to make the heater actually work. I think I'm going to break it in on 20w-50 dyno oil and watch a couple of uoa's. The engine will work hard pushing a brick around and it's going to be interesting to see some actual lab results for an air cooled engine. At least there will be plenty of oil with the big sump, full flow filter and oil cooler and theromastat plubming to short cut the cooler when the oil's cold. It's going to be almost 8 quarts. And I'm doing all this because I can't warm up to the idea of one of those new mini-vans. I've looked under the hood and have no idea how things work, or how I would fix it, if it stopped running.

 

[AR15 VDub]

I use Castrol GTX Diesel 15w-40 year round. Others have used Rotella or Delvac with great results.

 

[oliver88]

wouldn't it run cooler with a 15w40 or 5w40 synthetic rather than a 50wt? my experience with air cooled Porsche engines has been that a 5w40 synthetic or 15w40 Rotella or Delo has given me the lowest oil temps....

 

[maxgxe]

I agree with Lazy JW's recommendations. In my younger years (late 60s through the 70s) I owned a succession of VW bugs. Castrol 20w50 gave good results. (I still miss those air-cooled cars from time to time, but not enough to get rid of my current Maxima!)

 

[LARKBILL]

LarryL,
Wow, I had no idea folks were still doing so much with Type 1 motors, I guess I haven't worked on one since the '70s. When I was last involved the hot topic was swapping out 1600s, and carbed 1700's for injected 1700's with 914 2.0 jugs and heads or a whole 2.0 from a 914 if you could find a wreck. The biggest hurdle was the fuel tank in the carbed bus not having enough baffles to keep the injected motor from stalling on long RH corners below 1/4 tank. Our only solution at the time was "Don't do that".

 

[Keith Z]

LarryL, forget about the 911 shroud, it will make the motor run too cool and never get to operating temperature. Be wary of hydraulic lifters also. Try going with a Web cam and invest about $500 in ceramic lifters or get a set from John at Aircooled.net, he guarantees the cam and lifters if purchased from him. Good luck...aircooled forever!

 

[Ben Boyle]

My 1600 is a factory long block from Mexico with hydraulic lifters. My theory is that they seem to work for the Mexican and me using a high quality oil and filter (m1 15-50 plus a M1 filter for 3,000 miles which is pretty much my whole summer season with it) should hopefully give me an edge. In the meantime, after almost 4 years with it I don't have to worry about constant valve adjustments and get to have the quietest VW engine I've ever seen!

BTW: I agree John @ aircooled.netis a good source.

 

[LarryL]

The engine with a 911 shroud will get up to temp just fine and the head bolts won't go through stretching and contracting as much and the engine won't leak. The oil temp is kept under control with the oil cooler and thermostat. As for hydraulic lifters, there's nothing better for an engine than a good set of hydraulics. Some of the older conversions did not work because the oil passages were not up to the job, but with modern cases it's no problem. A modern Type 1 engine is really a good engine, it just won't pass smog without fi and a converter, in California, but with an older bus it's no problem.