Nope. That maintenance procedure is legacy stuff from the (nearly) 30 years
when VW's had no oil filter, and relied on the strainer to catch the bigger
chunks.

I clean mine every year or two, and there is never anything on it ('cept
oil). I figure the few times I torque that nut onto the bolt that holds the
strainer on, the less likely I am to cross-thread the bolt or strip
it...less chance I'll have to split the block to change out the pickup tube
ass'y. Ugh.

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree

-----Original Message-----
From:   ncdragonfly [SMTP:ncdragonfly@COMPUSERVE.COM]
Sent:   Wednesday, July 14, 1999 12:44 PM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        oil strainer

On air cooled engines Bentley says to replace the oil strainer and gaskets
everytime the oil is changed. Do you folks do this? If not, how often do
you do it if you do it at all.
Thanks,
David Higginbotham
82 Westfalia