Frank et al,

I can attest (understanding that one data point does not a curve make!) to
the overfilling phenomenon. Recently did oil change on my I4, over filled by
approx. 0.5 litres and experienced a noticeable (i.e. 5-10 degree C)
increase in oil temp when driving familiar stretch of hwy.

The increased temp of course reduced oil pressure, and it had me worried
until I calmed down and checked pressure vs. temp (all within spec).

Funny thing about this was the increased oil temp behaviour was different
than what one experiences during hard driving. May sound a little vague and
flaky, but the temp climbed slowly (understandable as I was not driving
hard) and did not come down as quickly as one would expect when off the hwy
and driving around town.

A while back Frank sent me a diagram showing the levels of oil in the 55
degree Vanagon diesel/I4 gas installation.

Haven't posted on my website - hate it when work interferes with hobbies!-
but will make a point of doing so ASAP to help with this discussion.

Alistair

--
'82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
albell@uvic.ca
http://homepage.mac.com/alistairbell/home/

on 26/03/2002 11:42 PM, Frank Grunthaner at FrankGRUN@AOL.COM wrote:

> 2. Carefully adjust the oil level. Cheap, can work, could be dangerous. If
> you keep the mean oil level below the crankshaft arc, and above the oil
> pickup tube inlet, and refrain from adventure, you can minimize the whipping
> whirlpool. It will still be there, but less oil will be captured. Careful
> measurement of oil temperature as a function of the static oil dipstick level
> will show the onset of this problem. Unfortunately, that onset is far below
> the factory recommended level (often 1 to 1.5 quarts below). The corollary
> here is that if you overfill (by as little as 0.5 quarts), you can seriously
> drop oil pressure, increase oil temperature (the aerated oil acts as a
> thermal insulator and minimizes the thermal exchange in the oil cooler) and
> blow out the crankcase seal with excess pressure.