I'm no expert on breaking in a new engine, so I'm only repeating what more
or less what I've read from various places.

If it's a "home built" engine and never been fired up before (shouldn't be
the case with an engine from AVP) then at the first fire-up of the engine
(filled with non-synth oil) you immediately bring the RPM up to 2,000 and
hold it there for 20 minutes.  Change oil and filter and fill up with
non-synth oil of appropriate weight for the local climate condition and
drive the vehicle "moderately" for 300 miles or so.  You want to avoid long
runs at a constant speed, i.e., no long freeway trips, and you want to
gently "stress" the engine with compression and deceleration.  (Ideally, you
like to find a not-too-long and not-too-steep hill that you could run up and
down several times during this period of break-in.)  Change oil again and
repeat for 1,000 miles, driving the vehicle in a more "normal" fashion as
the mileage progresses.  Change oil once more and drive as usual 'till the
next oil change: 3,000 - 5,000 miles depending on your driving habits and
religion.  At this point the engine should be completely broken in and ready
for the switch to synth.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Young                       '81 Vanagon
Lafayette, CA 94549         '82 Westfalia
---------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers" <jh_rodgers@BELLSOUTH.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: Break-in oil

> Ask your re-man shop or engine builder what to use. I had my engine
> built locally. My mechanic, an old timer VW guy, said run straight 30 WT
> Dino oil for start up, let it run for an hour or so idling, then shut
> down and change oil and filter. Refill with straight 30 WT Dion oil
> again, and run 500 miles - mostly non-stop if possible, 50 mph or under
> if possible, and then change filter and oil again. Then do the same all
> over again for the next 1000 miles. After that, go to 20W50 Dino oil or
> Mobil 1 15W50 with a new filter. I did what he said, but did go for the
> 20W50 and haven't had any problems. A little while back, at 40,000
> miles, I switched to Mobil 1 15W50. The small oil consumption that
> always seems to accompany any VW engine, diminished to the point that I
> do not have to add oil between oil changes - which I do at 3000 miles,
> regardless.
>
> Regards,
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
> Warren.K.Lail-1 wrote:
>
> >Hi all,
> >
> >I'm about to put oil in my newly rebuilt AVP engine
> >and I was wondering what kind of oil I ought to
> >use for break-in.  How long should I run it?
> >
> >I ultimately want to use synthetic, but I've heard
> >that I need to run dino oil to allow the rings
> >to seat properly.
> >
> >Many thanks.  Advice is appreciated.
> >
> >Warren
> >88 Westy "Billy Bones" (in dry dock)
> >87 GL
> >
> >
> >