The Baby - long

[Eric_R_Kissell at email.whirlpool.com]

On 3/26/2002 Dee <DOUBLDz at aol.com> wrote:
[snip]
> Last oil change, I told them that I thought Baby was burning too much oil.
> I was putting in like 2 quarts myself between oil changes, which as I said
> were frequent. Basically, I've been using Mobil 1 since I started on this
> list (4 years).
[snip]
> Anyway, knowing the service record on the car and assuming I drive it like a
> lady ;-) he seems to feel that the Mobil 1 is the cause of the damage to the
> engine.
[snip]

Dee,

Did your mechanic say that he thought the Mobil 1 was the cause of "damage"
to the engine or did he say that the Mobil 1 was the cause of "high oil
consumption" in your A6q?

The reason I ask is that those are two very different things. I could
believe the "consumption" idea but the "damage" idea is very unlikely.
Mobil 1 is a good lubricant, which should prevent damage better than Dino
oil.

In my 1987 GTI 16v I used Mobile 1 for all oil changes in the original 1.8L
engine for 50K miles between 150k and 200k on the odometer. I never needed
to add a drop between changes, which were at 10K mile intervals. At 200k I
had a chance to get a 2.0L engine with 70k miles on it cheaply, so I
swapped out the high mileage 1.8L for the 2.0L. I installed fresh Dino oil
in the "new" 2.0L engine for the first 3500 miles without burning any. At
the next oil change I switched back to my trusted Mobil 1 and started
losing a quart every 2000 miles. And it was not all leaking out either.
There were a few new drips, but not serious enough to account for the rate
of oil loss. I switched back to Dino oil at the next change and did not
lose a drop before the oil change that followed. In the last 63k miles I
have gone back to Mobil 1 one additional time and Amsoil another and
repeated the oil loss which then disappears when I switch back to Dino oil.

So, you can see in my experience that the synthetic oil (Mobil 1 and
Amsoil)  seems to account for high oil consumption.  However, this does not
indicate that synthetic oil has done anything to cause damage leading to
higher consumption.

Eric R. Kissell
1986 5000cstq, 1.4 bar, K24, Bilsteins
1989 200q Avant, 1.8 bar (SJM), K24, Fuchs
1987 VW GTI 16V, 1984cc, Bilsteins
Evansville, Indiana, USA