oil type, oil pressure, oil temp....

ok.. what type of oil do you all run...
if the car is at 200 degrees - 230 what preasure do you read?

see pics of my gauges. heres what i see. :) or :( should i be freaking out...

yes, oil is full i used 10w-30

thanks

I'm still breaking my engine in, so I have straight 30 weight, non-detergent in there right now. I'll be changing it next week (1500 miles), and the weather is getting warmer and Shambley has convinced me to put 20W-50 in there for the Summer (he says it reduces oil temp a few degrees, and I like 50 weight during the Summer, so what the heck). I won't be running synthetic until I have 10K - 15K on the engine, but even then I think Synthetics are pretty thin when hot and they tend to leak a lot more than 50 wt. in the Summer. In Winter (not that I'll be driving much in Winter without a top!) I would run 10W-30 just to make it start easier....

I really wonder about this whole synthetic oil thing. Some say, "run synthetic," while others say, "save your money and run dyno." Some will also say that your motor will run cooler with synthetic...hmmmm.
I switched from dyno to synthetic (Very expensive Royal Purple), and I have not noticed any change in oil temperature. Is it worth the extra money? Hard to say. I don't think it matters if you go dyno or synthetic, just change your oil on a regular basis (and filter) and run 20W50.
Ron

I couldn't agree more. When my dad had his buses in the 60's thru 80's, we tried all kinds of stuff from straight grades, to multi-viscs, to synthetics to LOTS of STP, and found that they really didn't make a lot of difference, EXCEPT for Winter time cold starting, so we ran regular 5W-30 in the winter to get them to start easier (all were Gas, not diesel).

Ended up using Kendall oil (from Pennsylvania) exclusively and had good luck with it - VERY little engine wear over the 200K+ miles we usually ran our fleet. We never saw anything running cooler with synthetic oil, but they were all fluid cooled - hard to tell - but we DID notice a whole lot of seal leakage when we ran the synthetics for 6 months. Went back to regular, heavier oil and the leaks stopped (which was expected - Duh!). Synthetics seem to run really thin when hot.

What we did find, though, was that there was a world of difference at that time between oil filters (we ended up with Frantz external toilet paper filters), that the synthetics then didn't really do anything for us (we were already doing oil analysis monthly and running extended change intervals and couldn't justify the additional cost) and that most of the additives (like STP and others) were useless (although I still use 10 wt./STP mix for assembly lube on engines and transmissions - habit, I guess). I don't yet have an external filter on my VW engine, so I'll be changing every 2K - 3K to be safe.

We had one engine tear-down at over 150K miles (the driver over-rev'd it and blew it up - and was quickly fired). The inside was clean as a whistle, and plasti-gaging the mains and rods showed wear consistent with about 50K - 70K miles.

Now that I have my spiffy new dip-stick thermometer, I'll pick a warmer day to change my oil, and change from the 10W-30 in there now (noting the run temp) then quickly run home and change to 20W-50 and make another run and note the temp and let you all know what I find (although this might be something good for someone with a dyno to do).

gn

Gordon. sounds like you know a little bit about oil...

Thanks guys!

btw, so what temp and preasure should they be at...

is 230 deg ok? 20psi cruising at 65?

Well, Under the "Anything Goes" tab here on the Forum, George Brown has his brand-new T-1 engine breaking in and he's running 220 degrees on a 75 degree day at turnpike speed - that with about the best stock-type cooling shrouds he could find.

For Oil Pressure, 20 lbs at 65 MPH on a used engine sounds OK, too. It would be nice to get it higher, but it's pretty good right now so don't fret it.

Nic: Where are you located?

gn

this is what I saw once:

the rule in general, not only in vw's
you need at least 0.7 bar of oil pressure per 1000 rpms

1 bar = 14.7 psi so you need about 10 psi per 1k rpm

so
at 1000 rpm = at least 10.00 psi of oil pressure
at 2000 rpm = at least 20.00 psi of oil pressure
at 3000 rpm = at least 30.00 psi of oil pressure, etc

etc, and it will vary depending on oil temps

and it should never drop to less than around 10 psi at idle in a hot day with thin oil

Gordon, did you get your temperature dip stick from Mainely Custom By Design? I ordered one from them and it should arrive any day. Now, I'll finally know what my 914 temperature gauge is reading!
Ron

Absolutely......Mainely Custom by design up in Maine. Looks like a one-man (person(pc)) shop, but he was way more than helpful via email and I had the stick in a couple of days. Tried it in (microwaved) boiling water and it registered 211 degrees F so I guess it's right there. I plan on calibrating my number-less gauge, too.

It fits a bit loose in the tube, though, and Alan suggested I put some shrink tube on the upper shaft to make it fit better, but then it was too tight, so I tried a thin coat of hi-temp RTV and now waiting for it to harden up (tomorrow) and then it should fit better. If that doesn't work I'll crimp the tube slightly (damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!)

gn

Oh yeah.....and you'll need binoculars to read it down in there........the numbers are about a 4-font!!

Gordon, I suggested the shrink tubing, and did the original product report on the dipstick shortly after I bought mine. The tubing works great for my engine. Eddie

I also have the same dipstick, but if you want it to be tight then you will need to give it the heat shrink treatment......for me it doesn't really bother me that it isnt tight I still get no oil leakage or blow out.....works great and mine was right on for accuracy....but it doesnt hurt to check it first

so i guess im ok at about 20psi and 230 deg cruising. however, at 65 mph my tach reads a little more than 3500rpm... the more i drive this car the more i think the gauges couldnt possibly be accurate.

Gordon - Omaha Nebraska

Just got my gauge and checked it in a pot of boiling water...it's right on. Mine fits snugly into the oil dip stick tube. It's thicker near the gauge base. You're right about reading the gauge...very hard to do. I had to use a mini flashlight.
Ron

Yup, after reading other posts I checked mine in some boiling water - Right on.......BOY! Does this thing react FAST! Not like the wife's candy thermometer, but then, THAT one wasn't long enough to use in the engine!

My dip stick tube came from a donor engine and might have been abused to make it a bit bigger - not like it's totally sloppy, just a bit loose. I coated the upper tube with a little silicon caulk and it tightened it up enough so I'm happy - hope the caulk doesn't get soft or something, but I'll watch it.

Hey Ron O! Supposed to be 80F here Monday (27 C)......I'll make a run with the 30 wt. oil that's in there now and check the temp, then change to 20W-50 and make another run and another temp check and report back........

gn