Bad timing belts on the Subies can often cause cold engine noises that sound
like piston slap.
BTDT

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 6:15 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Oil light flickering

re
oils and vanagons and your comment ..
"Subaru cold start noise issues since I have
it on my Forester '

If you mean piston slap noise for the first minute or so of cold running ..
yeah, some of them do that.
  Not too much a function of oil viscosity I don't think.   Sometimes they
do it for years and there's no harm or downside....just that piston slap
cold.

air cooled engine is a different animal than a water-cooled one ..
Personally, I use a good 15 W 40 in everything unless there's a specific
reason not to.
  Often that's Shell Rotella .
That's what I'd run in an air-cooled vanagon.

maybe 20 W 50 if it helped in any way ..
I find 15 W  40 to be pretty right for most engines and most conditions.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Luther" <jluther@ALFONS-HAAR.US>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 5:49 AM
Subject: Re: Oil light flickering

> I've been informed that plenty of reading on this topic should be
> available
> in the list archives and I can find what I need there.  I'll have a look
> there rather than restart an old conversation.
>
> thanks
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
> Joe Luther
> Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 8:08 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Oil light flickering
>
> Oh boy, I hate to be a noob and go there already but here goes - I have a
> Haynes manual from the UK that appears to be almost as old as my van and I
> have been reading it while waiting for warmer weather.  In there, the
> recommended oil is 15w or 20w50 for my 2.0 aircooled FI engine.  I was
> thinking that recommendations may have changed since the Haynes manual was
> printed, since oils have changed a lot in the meantime.
>
> Are the heavier oils are still recommended?  I would never think to put a
> 15w or 20w oil in a typical engine because of cold start starvation, I use
> 5w40 Rotella T6 synthetic in everything (Volvos, Subaru, VW watercooled).
> Since the Cummins takes 3 gallons of it, I always have it around.  I was
> thinking of using that or 5w50 synthetic in the van once the engine was
> back
> together.  It should get moving quicker at cold start versus the 15 or 20w
> and help reduce bearing wear.
>
> Is there a reason that the flat 4 in the VW configuration likes the
> heavier
> oils?  I've read a lot about the Subaru cold start noise issues since I
> have
> it on my Forester and some say it is tied to oil getting to the end of the
> galleries slowly and starving cylinder 4.  I don't know enough about the
> oiling system in either engine to make a detailed comparison but they both
> are flat 4's....
>
> TIA
>
> Joe
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
> Matt Thyer
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 11:57 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Oil light flickering
>
> This happens on my diesel as well, it's a really dull kind of flicker.
>
> MT
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Paul
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 7:26 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Oil light flickering
>
> Lately at low idle my oil light has been flickering. Rev up the RPM's and
> it
> goes away. I have plenty of oil, you know the usual 1/2 full on the dip
> stick. Should I be replacing the oil pressure sensor's? Anybody else have
> this happen?
> TIA,
> Paul