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Re: [T3] Oil Issues


On 4 Jul 2006 at 14:08, knowonelse@sbcglobal.net wrote:

> During the oil change I found a bunch of stuff between the
> oil strainer and on top of the oil plate. Some of it was hard
> plastic-like material and some of it was metallic as it was
> attracted to a magnet. It wasn't of any particular shape.
> There was no metal attached to the magnetic drain plug
> however. The oil was dark, and sludgy after having been
> in for less than 100 miles. I figured that after sitting for many
> years, a short oil change cycle was called for.

The little plastic pieces may be the remains of the valve stem 
"seals". These commonly show up in the sump and are not really a 
concern. I agree that times like this are a good time for a short oil 
change cycle, maybe 500 miles.

> My oil screen was a little beat up, so I purchased another
> one at my FLAPS. Interesting differences between it and
> the one I already had. Mine was aluminum, the new one
> was of magnetic steel.
>
> When I installed the steel screen, it didn't have enough
> clearance for the magnetic drain plug, so I cleaned up
> the aluminum one and re-installed it. Anyone noticed
> this difference and found a work-around?

I've never seen one of the sump magnets, but I'd stick with the OE 
screen. The replacement ones don't always give me the same degree of 
confidence. The only problem I see with old ones is that the 6 bolt 
holes tend to get distorted so they stick on the studs. You can fix 
this easily with a tapered reamer. Just remove a LITTLE bit of 
material, and clean the chips out of the strainer before you 
reinstall it.

> As I was adding oil back into the engine, I noticed
> (the hard way) that the rubber oil filler tube had cracked
> and leaked oil badly. With it being late in the day and
> the FLAPS both being closed and very unlikely to have
> one on hand, I scrambled and used a bicycle inner tube
> as a temporary replacement. The diameter was too
> big, but it worked for now. Any experience on how
> long a bicycle tube will last in this location?

Not long.

Inner tubes are made of butyl rubber because butyl is less permeable 
to air. OTOH, butyl rubber is incompatable with oil, so you will see 
the results in a few days as the tube swells up to about double size.

I have some good rubber filler tubes.

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

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