At 09:05 AM 12/06/98 -0400, Anthony L. Mourkas wrote:
>Went to check the oil this morning, and the cap on the oil filler tube
>was not attached!!!  Luckily I found it down by the fan and rectified the
>situation.
>
I sure hope it was the cap only. Without the tube there would be little oil
left in the engine which would indeed affect performance.... 

>Question - Other than possibly allowing foreign matter into the motor,
>would the lack of an oil filler tube cap adversely affect engine
>performance in any way?  Just curious.....
>
It does not affect performance if you don't get any water or other items
into the oil or loose to much of it.

Relevant story:

One day my spouse drove up to me in her Diesel Vanagon (I was picking up
children from school), jumped out with terror on her face: "My car is
burning!". Indeed there was some smoke coming from the back, but it did not
look like the one caused by fire. Upon checking I found that the oil filler
cap had come off. Oil was splattered all over the place and had caused the
smoking from the contact with exhaust parts. I put the cap on, checked the
oil and said, "It's okay, you can drive it again." (totally cool, what a
hero...). This was first met with disbelief but I could finally convince her
that it was indeed okay.
The mistake I had made was that I had given the van to the local VW dealer
for an oil change. Usually I do it myself. They had not put the cap on tight
enough. In the end they gave the car a good clean to get the oil of the rear
hatch and gave me a half-hearted apology.
Lesson: Don't be lazy, do it yourself (and maybe do a final inspection on
your work, Tony).

Bj�rn Ratjen

Mill Bay, B.C. 

1987 Syncro Est Alia (self camperized)
1995 Passat TD
(1982 Vanagon Diesel)
1979 VW Bus (self- camperized)