[T3] Stuck wheel cylnders

[Dennis Stiefel]

-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org
[mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org] On Behalf Of Jim Adney
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 11:29 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] Stuck wheel cylnders

On 13 Sep 2012 at 21:04, Dennis Stiefel wrote:

> OK I know I'm going to sound stupid here but I've never heard of Brad
Penn.
> Is that like Pennzoil?  I guess you can get it on line. Never seen it 
> in a parts store. I have been doing some of research on the zinc in 
> oil thing and I get a lot of different answers on that one.

I'm sure that none of us know the full story on motor oils, but my
impression is that due to poisoning of catalylic converters, federal specs
have been slowly deleting some of the compounds out of motor oil.

When our engines were new, they called for SC/SD motor oil (spark ignition,
C or D version.) As time passed, motor oil improved and later versions
became the norm, and for a long time the later versions were better for
everyone, including old cars with flat tappet cams. Now we are up to
something like SM oil, and the zinc and phosphorus are all gone.

You have 3 choices:

1) Do nothing. Use SM oil and take your chances. Not at all recommended for
a new engine.  

2) Buy special oil that meets an older standard.

3) Buy SM oil and add the additives that the cam and lifters need.

A forth choice, which I've been following is to buy diesel oil that meets
modern Diesel standards (C for compression) and also meets an older spark
standard, like SL. To this, you can also add something like the Lucas cam
breakin lube to boost the zinc and phosphorus content for the first few oil
changes. 

I discovered that I could buy good 15W-40 Diesel oil in 2 gal jugs for about
$18, which is a good weight choice and a VERY good price. 
That's a lot of VW oil changes, but it's also about the price of one Brad
Penn oil change. Read the back label to see what kind of S rating it has. It
won't be mentioned on the front.

As you might have noticed, I'm a pretty frugal guy, so I'm really not a fan
of "boutique" products of any kind. That goes for most any commodity,
including engine oil.
--
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

_______________________________________________
I run diesel oil in my son's 88 Golf (gas burner) for this same reason. As
do all my friends who have old American muscle cars. I just didn't know how
it applied for our air cooled VW.
Thanks
Dennis