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On 19 Jul 2006 at 0:08, Jason Weigel wrote: > So why is vasoline bad? Ive used it for many years with great results. It > has even brought life back to my original rubber on the windows. Is this > opinion or survaical scientific fact?? There are (obviously) some types of rubber which are fine with petroleum products, but most are not. The worst petroleum offenders are the most volatile ones, like gasoline. Vaseline is a rather heavy, non-volatile, compound which whose effects should be minimal. On type 3s, it is clear that the rubber oil filler bellows is quite happy with oil, but if you take a look at the rubber "gasket" under the "base" (where the dipstick screws in) is a perfect example of a rubber that is NOT compatable with oil. Those should have been made from a different material, but they weren't. The bad effects consist of the petroleum compound soaking into the rubber and causing it to swell and soften. I suppose that a limited amount of this, like you might get with vaseline, might even give good results. But most of the time there is also a long term degradation of the rubber compound. My resource for this is the Parker O-Ring Handbook. It is an extremely useful compendium of information on the properties of various rubber compounds and their compatabilities with lots of various fluids, as well as a listing of all standard US sized O-rings and design specs for designing proper O-ring grooves. Don't ever pass up the opportunity to grab one of these. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~