That’s the old school method, right off the instructions of the can, at least in those days.  It’s a light solvent oil, and will get past the rings more than motor oil (supposedly cleaning the oil sweep rings too).  I just want to be sure people check their oil every 500 mi if they do this, it usually lasted 2000 miles before it was half a quart low.

 

Stuart

 

From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans [mailto:scottdaniel@turbovans.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 12:03 PM
To: Stuart MacMillan
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Noisy Valve lifters

 

That sounds like a lot of Marvel Mystery Oil to me..a whole qt.
I don't think I ever use over 1/3 of a qt max as a treatment. 
I can't remember the last time I saw an engine use a qt of oil in 500 miles. 
I'm not driving 2,000 miles a month either though.  

On 2/5/2013 11:54 AM, Stuart MacMillan wrote:

Yep, I've owned a '78, '84 (three engines), and now an '85.  All five engines had this issue, including both a freshly rebuilt 2.0 air cooled and a 2.1 WBX engine, both with new lifters.  The '78 production shop rebuild also had piston slap, but that's another issue (crappy aftermarket pistons and cylinders, still the bane of any rebuild).
 
It's best to drive at a decent speed until the lifters pump up, like on the freeway.  It can take my '85 20 minutes to stop clacking.  I've had some relief from using MMO in the past (a quart replacing a quart of oil at oil change, and topping off with oil every 500 miles or so as it burns off), but it could be my imagination.  I'll try it with the '85 and see what happens.  Shouldn't need to do this with a fresh rebuild though.
 
Stuart
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of John Goubeaux
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 11:05 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Noisy Valve lifters
 
Yes, I was not necessarily doubting anyone's explanation BUT rather since I paid good money for a rebuilt engine thought it a reasonable question to ask, especially of the folks who sell the rebuilt engines.
 
Thanks for the input.
 
-john