Oil Change / Oil FIlter

Guys & Gals:

I want to change the oil in my vintage speedster. Does it have a regular plug like old cars used to or is it a little more complicated? I looked for an Oil filer and can not find one externally. Is the oil filter inside the oil pan? Any pictures would be helpful, believe it or not I used to change the oil on my cars when I was younger.

Thanks for the help !

Andres D.

P.S. how many quarter of oil does the pan hold? SHould I change to synthetic. Thanks again.

You will need to purchase a VW Beetle type 1 oil change kit to change your oil. This kit contains a large O' ring for the drain plug and small washers for the cap nuts and two paper gaskets.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D113%2D198%2D031

On base of the motor case, there is a 4" round plate with 10mm cap nuts and a center drain plug that accepts a spark plug socket.

Remove the drain plug to remove the oil, remove the 10mm nuts from the plate. There's a screen in there that will get cleaned and reused. Be sure to clean off any remaining paper gasket material from the case and screen surfaces.

Slide a one of the new paper gaskets over the small studs, then the screen and the other paper gasket, slide the cover over the studs, add a small washer on each stud and hand tighten the cap nuts. Tighten the cap nut with a short ratchet or short wrench snug is all you need to do not... over tighten... as they strip easily.
Remove the old large washer place the new large washer over the drain plug and tighten.
Add two quarts of oil and check the level adding a little at a time until it reads just under the full line on the stick. (Hash marks are in pints not quarts.) ...........Do not over fill.

Lots of pictures of car in your profile but not one of the engine or engine bay! Assume its air cooled and you say 1.9L. Usually modified engines have an added external oil filter and an add on oil sump and maybe external cooler. If yours is stock setup - then no oil filter - just a mesh screen in the sump. VWs not like other normal cars though - you'll need a kit with 2 big 4" round gaskets and small copper washers for the studs to clean the screen. Pulling plug would just drain the old oil. Stock capacity would be about 2.5 qts - over filling blows seals and froths oil. I'd consider adjusting valves too. When was oil last changed? I'd stick with Dino oil 10W30 for cold and heavier in summer - VW tend to leak which increases with thin synthetics.

http://www.reluctantmechanic.com/step-by-step/vw_beetle_oil_change.php

Andres, I would suggest that you invest in John Muir's book "How to keep your Volkswagen alive." Go to the library tab on this website for a listing. You'll find that you can't live without it.

I 2x that !

Yep, what John and Alan said---this book saved me a fwew times.

Pay attention when you put those acorn nuts back on--they are real easy to strip and need only 5 foot pounds of torque to be correctly tightened. I was concerned about this and got a small torque wrench to get it right.

Gents:

Thank you for the excellent advice. I will purchase the book to make my life easier as it will probably answer a ton of questions. Thanks for all the guidance.

Happy Veterans day to all.

Andres D.

Andres-let me add a word of caution. If you're new to assembly/disassenbly, or as they say "wrenching", on a VW or small air-cooled engine remember THIS: they are usually made of magnesium or aluminum and require a conservative hand when tightening fasteners. This is not big American iron so don't "muscle" fasteners.
Add-just noticed others' cautionary words on the tightening issue-I agree with all the above.

There is nothing quite so empty as that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you "snug" up that last bolt and it suddenly goes from snug to slightly loose to "that doesn't feel right at all" and finally to "oh $hhttT!" Ask me how I know that.

Ah, I know that too...it is a sinking feeling.
(we were raised in non-swearing household; as a teenager I quickly learned to mix crude adjectives and body parts...or was it adverbs and body functions, inanimate objects and orifices.....?)

I'm not sure wjhy some leak oil and others do not, but I have been running Mobil 1 synthetic in my Vintage 1915cc since the first oil change about 2 years ago. It has never leaked a drop of oil nor does it burn any oil.
Troy

Troy - they stop leaking when there isn't any oil left in the crankcase!

Troy, I say you ain't drivin' it hard enough! If the engines throw it out or burns oil, then you are!

my engine started weeping oil from the gaskets. the synthetic in the tranny started leaks in the rear axle seals so i switched back to dino oil and it stopped.

I'm with you Bob. But I'm always haunted by the feeling that this may be akin to putting stop leak in the radiator?

I have done some research on oil and there is no consistancy. The vintage speedster manual for 2003 and newer states use 30 wt. I have a 99 with a 1600 what oil do you guys run and what is Dino oil?

George, dyno oil is a "nickname" for refined oil that comes out of the ground or sea (like the oil from the BP well)

Synthetic oil is a lubricant consisting of chemical compounds which are artificially made

Ha Ha Ha thanks larry, Ok so I think I answered my own question. Check out http://www.vw-resource.com/engine_oil.html or Type in Rob and Daves air cooled volkswagen pages

George, you're reading some very outdated material.. There a only a couple of brands of oil that have enough zinc and phospate to keep your cam and lifters from going flat.

Swepco

Brad Penn

Royal Purple and any other 100% synthetic

Shell Rotella is now way down in the additives, Castrol 20-50 is now pure crap so make up your mind on cheap oil and a short lived engine or expensive oil and engine longevity.

With only a few quarts in the sump and no filter, change the oil often, Change oil at 3,000 miles or if your mileage is less than 3,000 change the oil every 6 months

Any other as in Mobil One 20/50?

Mobil 1 is catorigized as "any other 100% synthetic "