Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all the time has come to change the oil in my van (1985, 1.9 wbx). After reading the wiki I left the house looking for 15w/40 synthetic oil, however while looking through the oil selection at halfords I noticed that they sell a "classic" car oil rated at 20w/50.
Has anyone had any experience with this oil and is it worth the extra couple of quid?



John

I have used it in the past for my kitcar (1969 Triumph engine), but 20w50 is the specified grade for that. Don't know if there would be any benefit for the T25. The main selling point to me was the old fashioned tin it came in...

Unless you burn alot of oil or have oil pressure problems stick with 1540 MINERAL, the spec VW issued.

2050 is thicker so helps to stop it getting past piston rings and being burnt and helps keep oil pressure up by stopping it leaking internally from the pressurised oil supply system.

Thanks guys, I don't think that I have any oil pressure issues at the moment, I definitely have a small oil leak but i think that is coming from the rocker covers that will be replaced over the weekend. If its not going to have any benefits I wont bother using it, must admit i was quite taken with the nice looking tin!

So should i be looking for synthetic or mineral oils? After reading the Wiki I was under the impression that synthetic is the way to go but I may have got the wrong end of the stick

John

Try synthetic if you want it's certainly a better oil, as far as I know excessive tappet rattle is the only known drawback, you may be lucky, if not you just wasted the oil and you will have to use mineral as specified by VW.

Many of us change the oil twice a year anyway so the long life benefits of synthetic are not so important.

15w40 mineral is correct for a wbx. You could use synthetic, but I'd only advise it on a newly rebuilt engine or it's a bit pointless and a waste of money imho.

Slight aside... firstly I am no oil chemist!
The Americans seem to bang on about the zinc compund additive content of oil (ZDDP or similar) and how it prevents camshaft scuffing in freshly rebuilt VW flat 4's, but I would have thought that film strength and controlling oil temps would be far more important?
Could tappet rattle with lighter oil be due to old oil deposits getting dislodged and holding the tappet check valves open?

Thanks guys, I will go for mineral oil and keep things the way that should be

I have had a bit of a day of it with the van, removed a rear side window to repair some of the surface rust and fit new seals. After much struggling and many swear words neither me or my mate could get the window back in! After about 7 hours I have admitted defeat and will take it to my mechanic on Monday

Gosh, it's about time we had an oil thread, it's been ages

RE Zinc and ZDDP, I read that it is to do with the profile of the cam follower. Apparently more modern engines use a radiused profile and this does not require the Zinc / ZDDP content, which is lacking (for some reason) in modern oils. Older engines use a flat / straight profile follower which, especially when new, benefits from the additives mentioned, hence "classic oils". I do know that in the world of classic motorcycles, the combined wisdom is to use "classic" oils, not modern formulations (and we're not talking detergents or synth there).

Different subject, but still additives, when they claim that classic oils help reduce leaks and weeping, aside from the viscosity, I wonder what additive contributes to that function?

ghost123uk wrote: Different subject, but still additives, when they claim that classic oils help reduce leaks and weeping, aside from the viscosity, I wonder what additive contributes to that function?

Wasn't that sawdust? Or was that for noisy engines? Or was it just that every car I had back then had been parked in a sawyard for years?

No No! sawdust will ruin your engine.
My mate who works in Bodge Em and Flog Em says it's only for gearboxes
CS

Citizen Smith wrote:No No! sawdust will ruin your engine.
My mate who works in Bodge Em and Flog Em says it's only for gearboxes
CS

wrong, when bodging you use bananas for gearboxes

sawdust is for smoking fish

or compacted with some allspice and sold as dope

Talk about digging up an old post!

Smoking sawdust cant be good for them.

Aye, Citizen Smith wins this weeks award for "old thread digger"

Oldiebut goodie wrote:Talk about digging up an old post!