Kendall Oil

when I purchased my car last summer, the prior owner told me he had only use Kendall Synthetic in the car and since it has 29000 miles on it (1776) and it is still running great, I thought I would continue to use this oil. Unfortunately I cannot find any place in the San Francisco area that sells the stuff. I called their distributor and they tell me it is not sold in stores here. Sounds kind of strange but..........

Any suggestions for an alternate oil that can be bought in stores????
Troy

Troy, I did a search on Google and Kendall has a store/distributor locator on their website. Should be fairly easy for you to find someone in your area that carries it. The website is www.kendallmotoroil.com and it looks like there's a distributor in the South San Francisco area; they're called Mag Co. Inc. and their phone no. is 530-668-9002. Hope it helps....

Thanks,
Been there and it was via talking with their local distributor that I discovered that they do not sell in retail stores. They sell to oil change places and car dealerships. Certainly not the place to go looking for a case of oil which is why I am looking to change. All I care about is a good quality product. I have never used synthetics in my cars before so I need advice.
Thanks
Troy

Not to sound like the devil's advocate but at least Gene Berg Enterprises doesn't recommend synthetic oil for air cooled VW engines (they do however recommend synthetic gear oils for air cooled VW transaxles). They say that their tests up to now show that synthetics don't absorb heat as well as regular oils so that when measuring oil temps. you get a lower reading (and false sense of security) with synthetics when in fact the heads are running hotter.

Ricardo, Gene Berg's observations about synthetic oils is rather dated; modern synthetics are fine. Porsche began delivering new air-cooled 911's with synthetics (Mobil 1) in the 1990's.

Even Harley Davidsons now come with everything synthetic. (Except for the water in the water cooled bikes)

Greg B

I think you could switch brands of synthetic at oil change time. You can get Mobil 1 in grocery stores around here and its in my wife's Boxter and her BMW uses Castrol supplied by BMW who's got the engine for 100k miles.
ed

Troy,

I've been testing Oils for about 3 Years and Kendel was one tested.

I'm currently testing Redline 20-50W Synthetic. The main benefit I have noticed is the Oil Pressure is not effected by increase in Engine Operating Temperature. Each of the other Oils tested had decrease in Oil Pressure with inrease in Oil Temperature/Engine Operating Temperature.

So, for now; RedLine appears to be the best tested (Penn's, Valvoline,
Castrol, Kendel) All of the oils I tested were Non-Synthetic however. Other users may prefer other MFG's of Synthetic or Brands and they probably have the same results in their engine.

One thing I learned that differs from my "Old School" Experience is the Synthetic does "Change Viscosity" from Cold Start to Normal Operating Temperature. So your engine will start easier in Cold Weather is you choose to utilize a Multi-grade whereas a Single Grade (30W or 40W) will be thicker during a cold Start.

I called Redline direct and spoke to him about the VW Engine Design & Oil Pump Impeller Clearance be ing designed in the 1930's and my concern about the design encompassing 30W Mono Grade Oil. He "Strongly" indicated this would not be a problem and if I were to try the oil just not use the 50W Racing Oil. He felt this would be too thick for the engine on Cold Start.

I'm currently impressed with the results of the Redline 20-50W. Hoosier Tire West in Fresno, CA. has Redline as well as Kendel.

Jack

George; I understand that and have discussed it at length with JJ (he also provided me with a copy of an April 2003 VW Trends article on synthetics). Still, though, as of yet Gene Berg Enterprises hasn't come up with newer observations (even in their newly redesigned website). I guess that means that they haven't found a synthetic that works well for the air-cooled VW; and I definitely hold them in high regard as one of the (if not the) pioneers in air-cooled VW technology.

Gents,
29000 miles on Kendall Synthetic says all I need. If it works don't mess with it.

Berg is only one of many test on oils for air cooled motors that
I have read results on. Is Berg's results gospel? No, as all the
bottom lines seem to be different!! 29000mi. with no problems,
why change anything? Don't jump in the ocean because someone did
a test and they say you should jump. Stay with what is working for
you.

Troy,

Here is the "marketer locator" page for CA from Kendall's site.

lubricants.conocophillips.com/locator/locator.asp?div=LK&av=&st=CA

MAC GO's in SSF seems to be the closest to you.

MM

Mike,
I talked with them on monday. They tell me no retailers carry their stuff. They will sell me some but I need to get there during their hours and unfortunately their hours are the same as mine. I'm not ready to take a day off just to buy some oil but If I can't find it elsewhere I may have no choice. Maybe if I'm lucky I can find some in the LA area when down for Knotts later this month. A case should last me long enough.

When I was young, my Dad had a lot of school busses and he used Kendall exclusively. We used to get it in 30 gallon drums, but they also sell it in 5 gallon buckets with a pour spout. Go pick up one of those and it'll last your for a year or so at a whack.

gn

I agree with the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" creed but isn't 29,000 miles low mileage and fairly commonplace by today's standards? Now over 75,000 for an air cooled VW engine and now we're talking.... I respect Gene Berg Enterprises and consider their recommendations gospel because contrary to popular belief, over 90% of their products are tailored for daily drivers and for regular people like us who want to improve performance and longevity over stock. They've been doing that since the early '60's, testing their products on their daily drivers logging, in some applications, hundreds of thousands of miles without failures, all based on hard scientific data. That,in my book, is credibility and quality. Believe me, I'm in no way affiliated with them either.

Sythetics are they way to go Ricardo, if you dont like em don't use them, Im pretty happy with Mobil 1 recomended for all Porsche (air cooled) engines... dont believe that cylinder head running hotter crap! my .02c - jJ

Durring this winter's projects (including a new 2110), I got to know Pat Downs at CB Perf. In the motors he builds, Kendall is used exclusively. That's good enough for me.....
However, as mentioned above, it will not be found at the generic auto store.

Today's Kendall is nothing special... We have been doing aircooled engine oil development for the past 3 years..

The original oil is sold under the brand name of "Brad Penn" and it's a completely different oil than the off the shelf "Kendall" of today.

Of all the development we have done with the testing of oil two oils have stood higher than any others during the evolution from pre analysis, to real time dyno and road test data logging and then followed by a post analysis. Those two oils were Royal Purple Max Cycle and "Brad Penn" semi synthetic.

Soon there will be a two part 4th Dimension Radio show dedicated to oil, listen for it. In the mean time read here for some info that Charles from LN Engineering and myself have come up with. www.lnengineering.com/oil

Any info you find that has been gathered on watercooled engines can be effectively ignored- it's worthless to an aircooled engine and we have proven this.

BTW- Mr. Berg's analysis of oils was done when only synthetic oil companies were in business, today that info is out of date and seriously needs to be updated, unfortunately no one at the Berg camp is dedicated enough to fill those shoes that Gene left epty with his passing.