My mechanic recommends that those with older design VW engines steer clear
of synthetics, or more specifically, those synthetics rated lower viscosity
than the owner's manuals recommend.  My owner's manual goes only up to 100
degrees, and seems to indicate a minimum of 20/50.  I personally prefer
straight weight, and interpolating the information given, I use 40 weight in
the summertime in Phoenix (110 degrees commonly - 115 occasionally).

This pretty much leaves all Vanagons with original equipment engines out of
the running for synthoils in desert climates.  I have seen nothing from
either oil manufacturers or from VW to change my mind on this.

Karl Wolz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Snow" <mwsnow@COX.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2002 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: Synthetic Oil

>   That said, having converted
> > my dino burning low-mileage (38K) WBX to synthetic when I got in almost
two
> > years ago, I experienced no leaks.  However, I did experience a lot of
what
> > I guess they call "blow-by."
>
> This echoes the experiences of some of my gearhead friends that waited
> too long to make the switch to synthetic.  Ideally, it should be done as
> soon as the rings are properly seated.  This point is easily
> identifiable if you have a quality temperature gauge and are meticulous
> about oil consumption monitoring during break-in.  I don't like to wait
> more than 5000 miles to make the change to Mobil 1.  With my current
> Honda, I had to wait 3750 miles to satisfy warranty requirements, but I
> could have switched as early as 600 miles based on oil consumption alone.
>
> Mike Snow
>