Recently, while I had the oil pan off of Reinhardt, i decided to see what
the "capacity" of the oil pan was.  I placed the oil pan on a flat, level
surface and began filling it with liquid until it ran over an edge.  At
about 2.75 quarts the liquid ran out.  I then adjusted the oil pan so that
the lower edge was parallel to the level surface (the "flat" of the pan is
not parallel to the lower edge of the pan.)  I was able to add just less
than another 0.50 quarts before running over the edge.  In either case, the
liquid was well below the two lines on the dipstick.  Assuming that the oil
pan installed on the engine is configured (relative to level ground)
somewhere between these two test cases, then the 3.7-4.2 quarts would
result in the oil level at rest being above the gasketed joint between the
pan and the block.  Maybe that is why the oil pan gasket specified for the
Vanagon Diesel is different than the one for all other 1.6l NA diesels.

Maynard     OvO '79
'82 Westy Diesel "Reinhardt"
'93 EV GL "Klinger"
'00 Golf GLS TDI "WooHoo"
'84 Jetta GL TD

On Tue, 28 Nov 2000 10:20:07 -0800, Mike Catlin
<mjcatlin@POSTOFFICE.PACBELL.NET> wrote:
> If you have the original plastic dipstick on an '82 U.S. spec. diesel,
the capacity
> should be  about 4.2 U.S. quarts.  I seem to recall that my original
dipstick was
> green.  When it broke, I replaced it with a new VW replacement part that
was pink
> plastic.  The new dipstick allowed a little more capacity, I think about
1/2 quart
> more.  Later, I added a second dipstick that is a replacement part for a
later
> model diesel Vanagon (I don't know what year).  If I add 5 1/2 quarts
with filter,
> then the oil level measures midway between the full and add marks on this
second
> dipstick.  This second dipstick enters the middle of the engine block
just above
> the oil pan gasket.  It is all metal and its chrome guide tube makes a
sweeping
> curve from the hole in the block, past the alternator, to the top part of
the
> license plate hole.