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Over the last year I’ve been testing different oils to see if any would make my car run a little cooler . I’ve tried Royal Purple 20w 40,Mobile 20w 50 , straight 30 Castrol . and Brad Penn 20w 50. Brad Penn is the winner hands down. Took my car out yesterday for a long drive . Car never got above 200 degrees and most of the time 190 degrees. I also used Lucas oil treatment in all oils .
The reason I went with 20w50 was I’ve gotten to know a VW car guy who rebuilds air cooled engines and says 20w50 Brad Penn is the only oil that he would use . His second choice if Brad wasn’t available was 20 w 50 Lucas hot rod oil . You have any thoughts on this Montie . I would love to here them and I will talk to my VW guy . greg press2014-07-12 15:32:23
No real thoughts, mine is the 2.3 Ford instead of the VW. I need an oil change and was going to try the Royal Purple this time due to the high ZDDP. I’ve always used regular 10-40 Pennzoil with a high zinc additive. With everyone talking about older engines needing the zinc, I thought I’d go with something better. We only put 2000 to 3000 on her a year so 1 oil change a year is enough. The oil looks just as clean coming out as it did when I put it in. We only take her out only a couple days a month, December to March, so most of the miles are during the hot summer months, so the 20 40 would probably work.
Guys, the ZDDP is for flat tappets–i.e. solid lifters. All but a few of the type 1 VWs have them. Solid lifters contact the cam and pushrods with a pretty good amount of force when the valve is half way. the zinc additive is to keep the oil between those parts. Just that.
This is an especially important thing for those VW people who have hopped-up their engines. More cam, bigger valves, bigger/stiffer valve springs and higher rpm all contribute to the heat and the friction that zddp was made to counter.All that said, a stock bug engine would run a long time without zddp, and very many of them did so. It’s not a bad thing for any older VW engine but given the choice between a can of 5-30 with no zddp and running the engine a quart low, I’d take the 5-30 every time.Greg: I don’t know but I’ve been told: 10-40 is a better weight oil for old VWs than 20-50. The thicker 20-50 supposedly spends more time outside the valve that lets oil into the oil cooler. Something like that.In Bridget I always ran 10-40 in the first half of the year and 20-50 in the second, usually changing in June or July. I accidentally ran expensive synthetic oil in it once (10-40, I think) and I put various grades and viscosities in it when it was down a little between 2000-3000 mile changes. I never had any trouble with any oil but as everyone knows, my engine was a fairly tired single-port.The chart at this link tells a story. 30C is only 86F (i.e. normal temperature scale). I ran 10-40 from Baltimore to Pittsburgh through 95F over hill & dale. That day I should’ve had 20-50. Or straight 30W… But nothing bad happened.The VW Owner’s manuals all say “The VW engine makes no demands in respect of engine oil quality which cannot be fulfilled by every well known and popular brand.”The stock lubrication/cooling system of a VW with dual relief valves in the engine will bypass the oil cooler and dump the oil back into the engine somewhere between 42-45 PSI of oil pressure. That’s to prevent rupturing the oil cooler or blowing out the rubber seals.
Sounds like there may be enough wear in your engine (likely cam bearings) that’s keeping the oil pressure down with the 20w50… or, you’re really keeping the RPM down on it while driving.Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
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