I've been using Castrol 20W50 for a while now and had no problems up untill
this winter.
This winter was unreasonably cold here in Western PA, and one day i tried to
start my car in -17 (That was a no wind day), and it would BARELY crank.
Even with a jump. It wasn't an issue of battery power or starter power, the
engine had just essentially seized itsself solid with the 20W50 at that
temp.
I tried the whole "Build a fire under the engine" method, but couldn't build
a big enough heat source in a controlled fashion (Coals in a flower pot). As
a result, i had to wait 2 days utnill warmer temperatures prevailed to get
my bus started. I then switched to 10W40 and the next day that hit those low
low temperatueres it fired right up.

20W50 in my experience is crap below zero.

-Craig
'85GL turned WESTY
Getting a Zetec and running 10W30!

On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 11:47 AM, Keith Ovregaard <kovregaard@gmail.com>wrote:

> Been using 15W50 for about 1.5 years now. Mild weather where I live,
> but sometimes I get up to the mtns where it can dip into the teens.
> Seems to work fine under these conditions. I am curious why Mobile 1
> recommends only 0W-40 for Vanagons, especially after looking up their
> recommendations for my other car which listed 7 different oils. The
> site also got into more detail like mileage, protection level,
> warranty, etc. Not with the Vanagon.
>
> Keith O.
> 90 Westy Syncro "VikingWagen"
>