Even in a worn out Waterboxer, 20w-50 should not be used in cold weather.
Synthetics give a bit more leeway but as you near the teens many destructive
things can happen with too heavy an oil.  For the winter I even go down to
the 0w-40 European formulae for my daily drivers. If I have to drive Fun Bus
to work on a cold day with the Mobil 1 15w-50 I let it warm up a bit and
drive extremely gently until I see the oil pressure drop a bit on the gauge.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
OlRivrRat
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 3:12 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Mann Oil Filter and lifters Was:Engine Starting Problem

On 26 Feb , 2014, at 12:05 AM, phishman068@gmail.com wrote:

> Just do it.
> Run the right stuff.

        There ShouldBe NoQuestion that that is the CorrectPhilosophy ~ The
Question is ~ Just What Is TheRightStuff ~

Some believe that 20w50 is a Must in an H2OBoxer & ThatJustAintNecessarilySo
~ Even the OilCharts in the 30YrOld

OwnersManuals attest to that ~ Even if the Condition of your Eng' does
require that 50Weight is needed the 20W may

not be & may actually be doing MoreHarmThanGood on "ColdStarts" when Most of
the ReallyDestructineWear occurs ~

        I have only had 3 VWVans, a 76, an 83.5 & a 90 & I have never run
anything Heavier that 10W40 in any of them

& only 5W40 in the 2 H2OBoxers ~ I lost track of the 76 back in the 80s but
the 83.5 still Purrs & the 90 was recently

put into another Vanagon, after sitting for 4Yrs, & did a CrossCountry trip
to Pennsylvania, where it now lives, without

any issues ~ Also, the only time I used Mann filters was when the 83.5 was
still under warranty, otherwise it has been

Fram or Wix/NAPAGold ~

ORR ~ DeanB