Oil Change Questions

I have a 2004 VS with a 1915cc engine. It has 400 miles on it, and ready for its first oil change (based on what I've been reading). I live in San Diego, and was told by the seller in Phoenix that the car had 10w-40 in it. Would 10W-30 be better? I should stay away from synthetics, correct? Does anyone have any advice on what grade and brand might work best for my new car in Southern California? Thank you.

Also, the car spews a little smoke out the exhaust on start up. The carbs need adjustment, yes?

Forgive my ignorance, and thanks for your help. I really want to learn how to 'baby my baby' and take care of her as much as possible.

Brian, the oil choice for your car is a much discussed and argued topic on this site. Use the search function and you should get numerous hits and lots of good, if conflicting information. With modern quality multi-viscosity oils, it's hard to go very far wrong if you choose a name brand. IMHO, based upon where you live, I think I would choose Castrol GTX 20W50. I hope I don't restart the oil war by suggesting this.
hh
ps. What color is the smoke? If it is blue, you are probably burning some oil and if black your mixture is probably too rich.

Thank you. The smoke is black.

I think the Castrol 20 50 is a good choice......I also used and really liked the Kendall GT1, but it is harder to find in some places.

I tried sythetic and loved the way it ran in the engine, but it started to leak out of the push rod tubes. To be honest with you a really good engine built with the idea of it not leaking can be done, but is rarely achieved with the synthetic.

Brian:

If possible, get your engine oil advice from your engine builder. He/She will be much more sympathetic if something does go wrong down the road, if you have followed their advice on such matters.

Bill

Brian:

As you're beginning to see from these posts, the real answer is "It depends":

If you're expecting cooler weather in San Diego this Winter, like never getting over 75 degrees F, then 10W-30 might be OK. Personally, I am running 10W-40 Kendall right now in my 2110 (still breaking it in at about 3000 miles), since I expected it to see warmish temps during the winter here in South Carolina. I also have a fan-powered oil cooler, which makes a BIG difference in what oil I choose. Full-flow oil coolers typically run full oil pressure through the cooler and filter, which can be WAY over 150 lbs pressure on start-up. If it's cold out AND you're running really heavy oil, like 20W-50 wt. or something, your engine/cooler/filter could possibly see over 250 lbs pressure on start-up (the reason some folks have seen exploded oil filters on this forum when they start their car on a really cold day).

I don't change as much per mileage as per the seasons. I've been busy changing things on my engine and never got more than 1500 miles on it before an oil change, but that may begin to stretch out from now on. Typically, I change every season, since it's easier for me to remember that than fiddle around with mileage, but that's beginning to look like about 3000 miles between changes.

I've also tried synthetics on several engines (including the 5.4 liter on my current F150 pickup) and while I find that they work pretty well and as advertised, the engine (every one of them) tended to weep oil past the seals SOMEWHERE. Once I went back to "regular" oil the weeping stopped. I also tend to run synthetic FAR longer between changes (again, only in water cooled engines); typically, I change only filters at 3000 miles, adding enough oil to bring it back up to "full", and will change BOTH oil and filter at 6000 or 9000, depending on whether I've been pulling a trailer or not. If I were using Synthetics on a non-filtered VW engine, I would still change every 2K - 3K miles, which gets expensive. On a filtered VW engine, I would probably go 5K - 6K miles, but that's just me - not everyone would do that, I know.

If you've got about 400 miles on your car and going to change the engine oil, don't forget to change the transmission oil, too. You could opt for synthetic 90 wt. Hypoid oil for the tranny at this time and probably see easier shifts, too. After changing tranny oil at 400 miles or so, it should be good for 25K - 30K miles, at least, as long as it doesn't leak.

Gordon
One of the "Speedstah Guys" from Port Royal, SC

Brian-- As a fellow San Diegan, I myself use AGIP when it's available, otherwise nothing too fancy. Just drop by the local WalMart and grab some Pennzoil or Castrol in 20W 50 I've driven my car year round and no problems what-so-ever

buy whats on sale. synthetics are a waste for this performance level. save your money,
buy a cheeseburger instead.

Dang Bruce, that's a good idea!

From now on, If Gordon posts ANYTHING relating to how things "react to the cold", or "in colder climates", or "I usually let the engine come to operating temp", or any of that crap . . .

DON"T LISTEN!

He's a Southerner now. He doesn't know jack about how we deal with the Winter here in the North. He'll probably start in with a "I miss the Holiday Season and the first snow fall" bull sh+t in another week or so . . .

Ya Right! I'd miss it like a hemroid if I could ever get outta this place.

TC, the day may come when you too can choose where you live. Looking over the years of my life, our current home is for the first time one located in a place where we really wanted to be. Up until now, it has always been parent's choice, USAF orders, school location or job(s) mandate. It has been great to be set free of all of that and finally come to a answer to the question, "where do we want to live?" It's too bad I had to be a (near) geezer to get to this point.
hh

Thanks. I'll also replace the tranny oil, as well. I appreciate everyone's input.

John H.

Same with the wife and I. Actually it was a lot of fun doing the research on Geography. Although I've been in all 50 states and had some biases, it was enlightning to go thru the search process and narrowing the search to a managable few. The Web was such a help plus some books that we had access to. One big input that we didn't have was family acess. The wife and I have family but with modern air travel it is very easy to link up when needed. We made a few fact finding trips which were a lot of fun. We decided on SW Oregon and have never looked back!

Now the West Coast Kid, Bruce

Hey TC!

Check out my back porch, taken tonight, Dec 12'th

Notice the lack of snow, AND the Adirondack chairs where we're about to have our wine on the deck whilst watching the sun set over Hilton Head Island in the far reaching background.

What's that? You've got SNOW up there??????

Well, if it makes you feel better, they're prediciting a hard frost for Tuesday and wednesday night this week- may have to turn on the heat......

Hey guys! Went to a cruise/show in downtown Beaufort today, and met the guy with the Baby Blue speedster I saw last August, so now there are three of us here, all within 15 minutes of each other - just as many as in ALL of Rhode Island.......come to think of it, that's about the same geographic area as greater Beaufort!!

Gordon
One of the "Speedstah Guys" in Beaufort, SC

Geesh Gordon ....ya gonna be get'in to mowing dem weeds back yonder?

This San Diegan also uses Castrol 20W-50. It gets damn hot around here in the summer, depending where you live. And you can't get nowhere without going on a freeway. Hot air for VWs. For all you non-coastal folks, the difference between 3 miles from the ocean and five miles from the ocean can easily result in 10 - 15 degrees hotter temperatures inland.

As far as living where you want to live, rather than where the career takes you, I've lived here for 36 years. It used to be I wanted to live here. Now I don't. I just got back from an early dinner. Traffic on the freeway was at a dead stop at three in the afternoon on a Monday. No particular reason, just too many people. Sure, I put up the Christmas lights wearing shorts yesterday, but I'm trapped in my own neighborhood if I drive a clutch. Life in the big city . . . .

Living here in San Diego isn't all perks. Try pricing a 1500sq ft home lately? Good thing I got my modest 3800sq ft house before the market topped out, jeeez.

You guys in SD don't know how good you have it. Traffic is bad almost everyplace that is the least bit interesting to live. At least while your stuck on the 5 you have beautiful weather to enjoy.We have a place in Solana Beach (and a daughter in Escondido) so we get out there as much as we can, I'll take it anyday over the deep mid atlantic. And I hope to retire somewhere out there if I live long enough.
I bought the speedster on the morning of my daughters wedding almost 4 years ago from a guy in Encinitis (sp).
ed

I'm using 10w-40 in winter, 20w-50 in summer, following a suggestion of someone here, maybe it was George Brown(?)

I've used Castrol 20W-50 in every VW and Porsche that I've owner, Summer and Winter. The engines seem to love it. If the house prices around here continue to go up, when I sell and move to Arizona, I'll use it there as well. And if I can't afford a house in Arizona, I'll use it in my motor home . . . when I'm forced to buy one . . . hell, I may even request to be buried with a can or two!

Somehow, I can just see you with a house near the "Artist's Colony" in Sedona, Arizona - back yard looking up towards the red cliffs of Monument Rock, a quick Speedster ride up to the "Javelina Cantina" for Margaritas while you look out over the town.........life would be good......

gn

The Bentley VW manual recommends 40W for engines in tropical weather; I haven't seen heavier weights recommended but then again, that manual dates back to the '70's; I guess oil technology has changed a lot since then.

we (in the vw shop i worked in) used to use straight 30. 20-50, 10-40==all good.

I have a 2185 with a Gene Berg oil sump and I use Castrol 20W-50. However, I substitute one quart with Lucas Oil Additive. After the oil change, I run the engine for a few minutes to get it all mixed.