Hi:

I've just joined the list, so apologies if this topic has already been covered.

I have an 89 Vanagon Westfalia, with around 138,000 km on the original
engine.  I'm not the first owner, so I don't have the COMPLETE history on
the van, but I don't think that the cyliner heads have ever been replaced
... a lot of the mechanical parts ... muffler, shocks, etc. are still
original.

Here's the problem.  I had the oil changed just before I went on a weekend
trip.  The garage was supposed to have put in 15W40.  The technician showed
me the dipstick, and the oil appeared to be at the full notch.  After about
1000 km of mostly highway driving, the oil light came on constantly and the
warning buzzer sounded.  I pulled off to the side of the freeway and looked
at the dipstick, and it was completely devoid of oil.  We managed to get a
tow to a service station, where we put about 3 litres of oil in, and kept
on driving, keeping an eye on the oil level every 100 km or so.  I noticed
that after about 200 to 300 km, I had to put another half a litre in.

However, in the city, I'm not doing extensive driving, so the engine does
not warm up as much.  I check the oil every morning and it stays fairly
constant.

My mechanic looked at the spark plugs, and one of the plugs appeared to be
coated with oil.  The compression on that one cylinder seems fine (140
psi), so I'm wondering if any of you has seen something like this before
... is there a test I can do myself, an oil switch I can replace?  I'm
hoping this is not a major ordeal.

Thanks,

Katherine