McNeely

        It appears to me that you & I (& I suspect lots of others(either  
direction)) may be interpreting the OwnersManual OilGradeChart  
differently ~ since the 20w-50, 20w-40, 15w-50, 15w-40 RangeBars have  
an ArrowTop on them I assume that means GreaterThan ~ I think that if  
they didn't want to recommend the use those grades above 90�f they  
would have capped them Flat as they have done with the 10w-40, 10w-30  
RangeBar. Also we should keep in mind that these specs are at least  
30YrsOld ~ they may have been developed (more or less) from a CYA  
perspective ~ & a number of improvements have been made in the  
EngineLube Grading&Quality TestSpecs since then.
        When I look @ this chart it says to me if 15w-40 is OK to use off the  
UpperEnd of the Temps then a 10w or 5w or 0w-40 should also be OK to  
use in that same setting ~ Since theoretically a 40 "ShouldBe" a 40 no  
matter what the **w # is.
        You asked the ? "What do folks in Arizona do for running in summer?"  
& all I can say is that if I lived in AZ instead of NM I would  
probably try to get away with using a 5w-40 until my OilTemp&Press'  
Gauges told me to move up to 5w-50 & most definitely a FullSynthetic.  
I did live in AZ for 2.5Yrs back in the '60s as a USAF WeatherGuy ~ I  
recall many SummerDays with temps in the Mid120s ~ IIRC 128�F was the  
highest ~ I drove a 51ChevyConvertable & then a  
63.5FordFalconSprintConvertable in those days probably running SAE40)

                                                                        ORR ~ DeanB

On 15 Mar , 2013, at 12:57 PM, Dave Mcneely wrote:

> ---- Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Again, at 100C the 20w-50 should have higher viscosity than  
>> straight 40. Outside temperature has minimal effect on oil  
>> temperature unless the radiator is saturated or the effects of  
>> running the air conditioning or higher speeds for longer times  
>> takes over.
>
> Dennis, why did VW recommend the straight 40W for the highest  
> temperature range, rather than the 20W50, which was recommended for  
> slightly lower ambient temperatures?  This is per my owner's book.
>
> mcneely
>
>>
>> Dennis
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On  
>> Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
>> Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 5:51 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: '87 Westy - Oil Change, out of hibernation
>>
>> OlRivrRat, thanks for the information.  I do switch to the 40W for  
>> the hottest three months, and those are the months when I push the  
>> camper the hardest, also.  I am following VW Vanagon owner's book  
>> recommendation.  Forty weight for temperatures running at the high  
>> end of the nineties, 20W50 for lower than that.  20W50 does great  
>> in winter around here, and in spring and fall, also does well in  
>> northern states in summer.  It is just too damned hot here and in  
>> the SW and interior areas of the west.
>>
>> What do folks in Arizona do for running in summer?  mcneely
>>
>> ---- OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
>>>      Ooops ~ sorry about that McNeely ~ your email asking about
>>> HighOP is immediately below Don Hansons email in which he says
>>>
>>>      "After hard use on a hot day, my idle OP sits at about 25psi  
>>> with the
>>> 15-40w oil.    When I use 10-40 or 10-30, I see about 10psi lower at
>>> speed
>>> and a few psi lower at idle when hot."
>>>
>>> & that is what I was attempting to respond to but clicked on your
>>> email by mistake & did not notice.
>>>
>>>      I don't know the answer to your HighOP? ~ just off hand I'd say
>>> your OP#s look quite acceptable overall ~ I would start getting
>>> concerned if they dropped much below what you are getting now. Not
>>> sure, though, why you choose to change to thinner oil (40w) for the
>>> hot months (if those are the 3mo's you are referring to), if the
>>> 20w-50 works OK for you in the Winter it should work just fine
>>> YearRound. You really ought to consider giving a Synthetic a try (at
>>> least for those hot 3mo's), I suspect you may be pleasantly  
>>> surprised
>>> by the results ~ Walmart has Valvoline or Mobil1(not recommending  
>>> just
>>> informing) 5qtBottles for around $25 & usually many other good  
>>> brands
>>> as well. Good Synthetics don't have to be expensive anymore.
>>>
>>>
>>> ORR ~ DeanB
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 14 Mar , 2013, at 11:18 AM, <mcneely4@cox.net> <mcneely4@cox.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Well, the question was, "What is too much oil pressure in a
>>>> waterboxer?"  So, I repeat the question:  What is too much oil
>>>> pressure in a waterboxer?  Is it 65 psi, 70 psi?
>>>>
>>>> On startup, cold, 20W50 Castrol (I hate the company, but use the  
>>>> oil
>>>> because I can't seem to find a better, and will not pay for
>>>> synthetic for an engine that is supposed to run on non-synthetic
>>>> oil), the OP on my 1991 Volkswagen Vanagon GL Campmobile with 2.1
>>>> with 170K miles runs at 60-70 psi depending on how cold it is.  At
>>>> home I garage it, and ambient temperature is usually around 50 F in
>>>> winter.  But then I park it outside when away from the house.  But
>>>> it has never pegged the 0-80 psi gauge.  The pressure usually drops
>>>> to 40 psi quickly as the engine warms up and holds around there.
>>>> Summer is another matter, it usually drops to around 30 psi but  
>>>> will
>>>> go lower on on long runs under hot conditions.  I switch to 40W for
>>>> about 3 months.
>>>>
>>>> So far as low OP, I don't see a problem there, except at idle it  
>>>> may
>>>> drop to 10 psi or a tad lower after long hot runs.
>>>>
>>>> How much OP is too high??
>>>>
>>>> mcneely
>>>>
>>>> ---- OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
>>>>>       If I saw a 10PSI drop or even a 5PSI drop in HotOP from
>>>>> 15w-40 to
>>>>> 10w-40 or even 0w-40 I would Kiss that OilManufacture Goodby in a
>>>>> HeartBeat.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ORR  ~ DeanB
>>>>>
>>>>> On 14 Mar , 2013, at 8:52 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> So, what is "too much" oil pressure in a waterboxer?  mcneely
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And, what is too much oil pressure in an inline VW motor?  (ABA
>>>>>> Jetta 2.0
>>>>>> liter)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mine, using 15-40 starts up cold with (3000rpm) 75-80psi, then
>>>>>> when up to normal oil temp (~200f) the pressure settles at around
>>>>>> 60-65psi (again, given a 3000rpm engine speed)  I've wondered
>>>>>> about the seemingly pretty high cold oil and engine oil
>>>>>> pressure...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> After hard use on a hot day, my idle OP sits at about 25psi with
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> 15-40w oil.    When I use 10-40 or 10-30, I see about 10psi  
>>>>>> lower at
>>>>>> speed
>>>>>> and a few psi lower at idle when hot.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> David McNeely
>>>
>>
>> --
>> David McNeely
>>
>
> --
> David McNeely