I never had a tank heater in my '87 Syncro in the four years that I had it
and never had any trouble starting except when it got down to-35.  It still
started but didn't want to.  You will need to run a 3w-30 in the winter.
Just about anything else is like molasses and 20w-50 is like paste.

The last couple of winters have been pretty mild, only two or so days where
the high was below zero here in the Twin Cities metro area.

Saint Cloud has a VW dealership, we had a swap meet up there a few months
ago.  Jerry Coffin, JAC Auto Repair, Ramsey, MN, is a good one to go to,
He's not that far from Saint Cloud.

Let me know if you need any more info.

Brad Spear
'72 Westy
Burnsville, Minnesota

In a message dated 9/16/00 7:12:42 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
CTONLINE@WEBTV.NET writes:

<< John,
 First things first.
 You better think of installing a tank heater, or at least a lower hose
 heater, so the VW will want to start, in the sub zero temps.
 Get a grill cover made to keep your tootsies toasty.
 Purchase some 5W oil to run in the winter, or at least some 5W20.
 Oil turns into molassis up there real quick. The roads up there are
 cleaned up faster than you can imagine, so chains aren't really nessary,
 and I don't think you can run them anyway unless it's a emergency
 (Getting un-stuck, then take them off)
 Why in the heck would anyone want to move to the "Land of Eternal Cold"
 anyway?

 Hasta,

 Terry

 85 GL >>