This year I blew out the oil heater seal on Volksiebus - my 1988
Transporter - starting on a 10 degree day with 20W50Wt Kendall GT-1.
this engine has spend it's life with this oil, and here in the south I
just didn't think a day or two of real cold would make a significant
difference if I let it warm up adequately on each start. Wrong!!  I
think though the real problem was not the oil so much as the fact the
seal was the original from many, many years ago and miles back. When I
took it out to replace it - it was brittle as all heck. The brittle seal
in that cold, combined with the 20W50 oil was just too much for  that seal.

I use Mobil One 15W50 in my 88 GL and have never had a problem - cold
nor not.

I think the seal in Volksibus was just tired and brittle. It was time.

It was fortuitous in a way because I learned something new about the
engine when I changed it out. I like to think every episode is a new
learning experience- not just an aggravation - an opportunity to better
handle a problem on the open road.,

John
John

On 3/1/2014 3:19 PM, Stuart MacMillan wrote:
> Yep.  I blew out a filter on startup at about 17 degrees with 20w-50 on my
> '84 with a fresh rebuild in it (heavy duty pump too). This was shortly after
> I blew up a used 2.1. What a mess, I think it pumped out the whole crankcase
> in the five seconds before I noticed the oil light and gauge at zero. It
> rarely gets that cold around here, but I now run Mobil 1 15w-50.
>
> If you want to really know what's going on with your engine and bearings,
> install an oil pressure guage.  Ignorance is not bliss with waterboxers,
> especially with the 2.1s!  VW knew this, and that's why they installed two
> pressure sensing systems.  In my experience, when those rod bearings go they
> go fast and without warning other than with low oil pressure or a very hard
> knock you can easily tell from tappet noise (In my case in about 3000
> miles). If you hear that knock, stop driving if you want to have a core to
> rebuild!  I didn't and it cost me.
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Dennis Haynes
>
> 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
> .
>