I remember in the old Muir book on the aircooled VW bus said that adding
an oil cooler was like getting an additional cylinder's worth of power.
I keep the oil level in the middle of the stick to avoid foaming in the
Vanagon.  I've noticed in my VR6 Passat (as have others) that any
addition of oil past the half mark on the stick seems to be pointless as
that oil seems to disappear somehow.  I thought the engine was burning
oil until I realized that it never went below 1/2 way down on the
dipstick

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Karl Wolz
Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2001 9:45 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Oil Level Again

Terry,

Those Mack oil pans are designed to hold 8, 16, or 18 gallons of oil.
Meaning, the pans are larger, so the top of the pool of oil is at the
same, or similar level.  There's just more depth to the pool.

Generally, more oil = less molecular breakdown and less heat buildup,
but only if the engine is designed to hold more.

If the oil in the V'gons is being aerated, that would logically lead to
a drop in oil pressure, since the air in the oil would be compressible.
Aeration would also lead to a lesser volume of oil going over those
engine parts which need to have heat transported away.

I ain't necessarily buying into this, but I can see that the theory does
hold water.

Karl Wolz