[Vwdiesel] '84 Diesel Rabbit Motor Oil 15W-40, 10W-40, 5W-40 . . .

[B & R Decker]

Hi Bryan;

	 As little as you drive your vehicles if it were me I would change
by a time schedule rather than a mileage schedule. I drive big diesel trucks
for  a Freezer plant and They used to use Mobil One synthetic Diesel truck
oil in part of their fleet but felt they lost a couple of engines by the
long oil change intervals and have gone back to straight dino Shell Rotella.
The one thing I noticed was the Mobil One  program besides using oil
analysis changed filters  between oil change intervals. I would only use a
diesel engine oil whether dino or synthetic in a diesel engine. They are
formulated for the specific contaminates of the diesel fuel.
	I am presently using Shell Rotella synthetic oil in my 81 VW Rabbit
diesel pickup and also in my 81 gas pickup, my 88 Audi 5000 turbo Quattro
station wagon, 87 Fox Station Wagon and my 86 Chevy C 30 Wrecker. The main
reason I use synthetic is that I think there is a little more protection if
perchance I'm running a little hot. VW diesels are very prone to blown head
gaskets and getting them shut down in time to not fry the engine can be a
problem. I also use Evans Waterless NPG+ coolant which doesn't boil till 345
degrees. I run it without any pressure and believe that alone can save
engines because of the old hoses and plastic parts in our Rabbits.
	As far as your oil usage you say you put in a cam splash guard which
is good but if the oil usage is because of a semi clogged oil separation
screen in the valve cover the splash guard won't help much. The first thing
I would do is remove the valve cover and take it to a radiator or machine
shop and have them hot tank it. Cleaning it with home solvents is usually
not effective.
	My VW Guru who was a service writer for the largest VW dealer in the
Northwest during the Rabbit era says that VW wouldn't warranty a new Rabbit
engine unless it used more than 1 quart of oil in a thousand miles. Most
will do much better than that but if you don't know the history of the
engine it may have used considerable oil all it's life. 
	If one does oil changes oneself the cost of oil and oil filters is
negligible against the cost of rebuilding an engine. Why be cheap when we
are protecting our investment.
Brian Decker 
Western Washington





-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Bryan K. Walton
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 8:48 AM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] '84 Diesel Rabbit Motor Oil 15W-40, 10W-40, 5W-40 . . .

Hi guys,
	So I've got an '84 Rabbit with about 122K miles on it. I've
been running Cenex Superlube TMS motor oil in it (15W-40 weight).  But
I thinking of switching over to a full synthetic oil.  My reasons for
considering this are:

1. Extending my oil change interval (I've been doing it every 3000
	miles).
2. To see if I can lower my oil consumption (I've already installed a valve
	cover baffle.  Right now my consumption is about a quart every 1000
	miles.)
3. To see, first hand, whether I can boost my mpg with synthetic oil.
	I know many synthetic oil users claim to have seen a mpg
	increase.  I'm a mpg geek, so if I can squeeze out even another
	1 mpg, it would be cool in my book. 
4. I only put about 6000-7500 miles on my rabbit a year. So, I think I
could get away with an annual oil change with a synthetic. I live in 
southeastern Iowa.  When I first started considering this switch to a
synthetic, I thought that a fully synthetic 15W-40 might work better
in the winter than a dyno-based 15W-40.

However, when I started looking for fully synthetic 15W-40s, I didn't
find very many:

a)Amsoil
b)Redline
c)Royal Purple
d)Neo

So, I posted a question on the bobistheoilguy.com forum to see what
people thought of these various options (they are all much more
expensive than the dyno options -- but cost is probably one of the
least important concerns of mine).  But I was unprepared for the
response I got:

"Any of the listed oils will do you fine in your Rabbit. However, even
though your manual states the use of 15w-40, it was published before
widescale availability of synthetic 5w-40 heavy duty engine oils,
which would be more than great for your little Rabbit.
You see, a 5w-40 synthetic oil will provide better cold weather flow
properties, and will also protect better than conventional 15w-40s at
high temperatures. It's the best of both worlds!"

I hadn't even thought about using a 5W-40 before reading this reply. 
So, my question to you guys: is anybody running 5W-40 in their diesel
A1?  Is there any reason why I should stick to 15W-40?  Or is this
poster correct, that 5W-40 is beats the 15W-40 in every fashion?

Thanks!
Bryan Walton
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