oooold Jetta need some advice

[zeta3ce]

I have an old 1986 Jetta. I maintain it myself. Im pretty good about the OCI. I got it in 2001 with the odometer reading 106k but it was not working and Im not sure how long it had been broken. The person that gave it to me was sure it was on its last breath. I cant afford to get a new one because I cant handle 2 car payments....anyways

Its been making a lot of noise, I think its the lifters. I put restore in it and it made it go away for a while. I want to do an Auto RX cleaning but im unfamiliar with it. Im new here so I need some advice. The car probably has close to 200k on it by now. It runs pretty good (knock on wood!!!) but i need it to last me atleast anotther year.
Can anyone please give me some advice. Thanks

 

[Johnny]

I would do an Auto RX treatment first. Then I would use whatever your favorite brand is High Mileage oil. The thicker the better, either 10W40 or 20W50. I WOULD NOT use any more Restore in it. Good luck and

to BITOG.

 

[99]

I'd use a quality 15W40 or a quality 20W50. I really doubt the thicker oil (by itself) will quiet them down all that much, if at all though. Once they're mechanically worn out, that's it. You could check a service manual to see if the valvetrain is adjustable....if so, you could adjust the valve lash and that might quiet them down a little. If the Restore works for you, go with it along with the 15W40 or 20W50 oil.....you only need the car to last a year anyways. ARX'ing the engine would be a waste of time in my opinion.

 

[hominid7]

An auto RX might be needed to clean up the engine. If your hesitant to do one, try a few rapid oil changes. Change the oil every 500-1000 miles and see if after 2 or 3 changes the noise starts to quiet.

Try valvoline AC 20w-50. I know it's trashed around here as being not so great, but it was the only oil i used in my 1989 VW Jetta that kept the lifters quiet. I used it year 'round for 225,000 miles with never a drop burned.

Use either an OEM, MANN, Bosch, or WIX filter. Change your oil early and often.

My old Jetta is way past 200K and still running strong with it's current owner. I beleive it has around 260,000 on it now.

This is not advice, but a VW mechanic told me once to run the engine hard and not be afraid of getting the revs up. I followed his advice and red-lined the thing often, even after it got lots of miles on it. The electrical system was a headache, but the engine and tranny were both rock solid.

My current car is a V6 with an auto tranny. It's quiet and smooth and a great car....But somehow i do miss that old VW...snif snif

 

[Willy_G]

The 1986 Jetta was one of the BEST Volkswagens imported to the U.S. If the body and electrical are good, this wouldn’t be a bad car to keep around, even if it costs $500-$1000 per year in maintenance.

Why did the last owner think it was on its last leg? A lot of times on these CIS engine, the O2 sensors go bad, the cat melts down & breaks apart, clogging the exhaust and people think the car is dead.

Noisy lifters are a common nuisance to most 80’s era VWs and Audis. Mobil 1 15w50 is like liquid gold in those old VW engines. I ran it year-round in the Indy area w/o any problems with cars reaching & exceeding 200k miles. It kept the lifters fairly quiet. Run a compression & leak down test if you feel so inclined…if all check-out fine, don’t worry about the noise.

Now-a-days, any good Syn. 5w40 is good below 0F and 15w40 above freezing. These CIS and CIS-E engines had so much fuel dilution that the crankcases were almost ‘self cleaning’! If you take off the valve cover and don’t see any sludge, the engine is probably clean as a whistle…no arx required.

Those engines tend to chew up oil seals with age or if run low in oil. Usually the crank seal and VC gasket. If you have a leaky seal that’t isn’t too bad, just wait until more work is needed in that area. Ex. On the pass. side, when doing a timing belt, get the water pump, oil seals and any engine mounts done, while the thing is apart. Ditto on the other side of the engine, during any transaxle removal.

 

[dB]

Add valve stem seals to the list of problems. I have an '86 Audi 4000, with the same 1.8L. Mine burns about a quart every 1500 miles. I think it's mainly due to the valve seals. Lifters are ok for the present. It has about 135k miles on the engine. I'm waiting (and waiting..) for my Auto-RX to arrive and see if it helps. I'm also curious to see if I might have some rings that are carboned up and may be letting oil through. It's a great engine, though. I've been using Pennzoil 10w-40. In fact, all the 70's and 80's VW/Audi's my family has owned have run on 10W-40. I tried some synthetics (Rotella T 5w40, M1 0w40), but since the engine burns oil, it isn't worth it. We'll see if the ARX makes any difference.

 

[zeta3ce]

I do have a small leak im not sure where. Will the ARX help with leaks? So should I just use a 15w50 dino?

thanks this site is amazing!!!!!

 

[hominid7]

If it were my car, in LA climate, with that many miles on it, i'd stick with 20w-50 dino year-round.

 

[zeta3ce]

Thanks for all the good info. I don't understand why they thought the car was on its last leg. When I picked it up it had a flat tire and was about 24 hrs from getting towed. I changed the tire and the car turned on right away and it ran like a charm. I have taken pretty good care of it. I havent had engine problems with the car but Im trying to prevent from having any because I know the car is getting up there in miles and the noise from the engine is getting more prominent. The only real problems Ive had with the car have to do with the suspension. But thats another topic.

Anyways thanks alot for the advice. I think im going to try the ARX treatment and then maybe I'll give the liquid gold a try. But, is Mobil 1 15w50 good for the los angeles area? It never gets cold out here. Plus this car has always ran on dino is switching to a synthetic a good idea?

 

[Johnny]

If it's not using or leaking oil, the "liquid gold" would be a great oil in California.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Valvoline All Climate 20w-50

 

[vwoom]

Here in LA, for a cheaper alternative to synthetic, you could run it w/ HDEO IsoSyn Grp II+ Delo 15w40 to help clean up the engine. Plus it's a tad thinner than 20w50..does help w/ the mpg.

 

[Bill in Utah]

My old 1986 VW Jetta which now has 250k miles on it and is based now in San Diego has had 3-5k OCi using mostly Havoline,Pennzoil and Valovine 5w-30 or 10-30.

It has never seen any oil heavier than 10w-30.

Does not use any oil, no leaks, passes the stupid treadmill smog and runs great!

I'd use 10-30 Dino (your choice since it really does not matter) and 4-5k OCI unless you sit in traffic most of the time. Then I'd go to a 3-4k OCI.

Nice car. I wish I kept it and was still driving it. By now, it would have close to 400k and would still be running.

Take care, Bill

 

[JungleJim]

That engine calls for 15W-40, unless you are up in the arctric circle, then VW calls for 10W-40.

It needs the thicker oil.

I have 215,000 miles on my 87 Golf, and it's always used Penzoil 15W-40.

I agree with others that in your climate, you could use 20W-50. On the VW forums, many have had success with the heavier oils at reducing noise.

 

[JungleJim]

BTW, the valves are "self-adjusting".

 

[moribundman]

'86 Jetta? Delo 400 15W-40!

 

[Whimsey]

I had a '85 Golf with the 1.8L engine. I used 10W-30 oil for it's life doing 3,000 mile OCI's. I did get the valve lifter tick noise close to 100,000 miles and then used Marvel Mystery Oil

. However it cleared the problem up and the car was quiet. The oil used mostly was Castrol GTX 10W-30.

Whimsey

 

[zeta3ce]

Is the delo 15w-40 for gasoline engines or only diesel. My jetta is not deisel. Would the delo still be okay?

zeta3ce

 

[moribundman]

DELO 400 15W-40 is a mixed fleet oil. I don't see any reason why this oil would perform less than very well in that particular VW engine. 5k mile OCIs seem reasonable.

The minimum requirement for that VW engine was an oil that would meet VW 501.01 (now obsolete multigrade VW spec for gassers) or VW 500.00 (now 502.00) AND VW 505.00 (diesel spec).

Per an '80s VW oil chart, 15W-40 is suitable for ambient temps down to 10 degree F.