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On 11 Apr 2006 at 20:41, Will McCreight wrote: Very complete description of problems and solutions snipped.... > My next idea is to use a hand vacuum pump, like the MityVac I bought to > confirm that the vacuum advance and air pressure sensors were working, > and plan to use to bleed the brakes soon, to remove a volume of oil > sufficient to drop the level to between the marks, then watch it again > closely to see if it climbs again, and how swiftly. For the vac advace and pressure sensor I'd just suck with your mouth and a clean piece of hose. That is more gentle and will tell you everything you need to know, maybe more. > I'd assumed that oil leaks are to be expected and not an issue unless > the oil level drops or the oil thins. Is there a simple test to confirm > the presence of gasoline in the oil, if that is the problem, or is an > oil analysis necessary? Is the difference in the appearance of the > valve cover interiors significant of anything I should worry about? Your oil observations certainly seem puzzling and you obviously agree. I suspect that somethings not quite the way you see it, but I don't know what it might be. Your gas mileage is good enough that things seem to be running pretty well, so it's a little hard to know where the extra gas is coming from. A mechanic once told me that if you want to judge how much gas is in your oil you should put a drop on your finger and see how readily it wicks up between the ridges of your fingerprint. Compare with fresh oil. Judging this probably takes more experience than most of us have. Some of what you see could be the difference between hot and cold oil, since hot oil will drain down to the sump faster than cold. Since your '70 has a cold start valve, you could try just unplugging the electrical connection to the CSV: I don't expect that to make any difference, since it almost never does, but it's an easy thing to do as a test. BTW, I don't recommend heavy weight oils. They DO reduce leaks, but they also restrict flow to the engine and require more HP just to pump around; that's power wasted. It's not really true that the oil has to be thick to lubricate well. What the bearings really need is a plentyful supply of oil, and heavy weight oil can sometimes actually starve a bearing. Also, since the oil cooler is a major source of cooling for our engines, reduced flow to the cooler means higher operating temps. Yes, I realize that this flies in the face of "common knowledge" but it's really true. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~