TULZ - Part Seven
Veeduber
Dead Whales on the Moon
Lubrication as a concept is an interesting subject and an area of study in
which mankind still has a lot to learn. Natural lubricants such as sperm
oil and castor oil continue to reign supreme for certain applications; some
instruments in the lunar lander were lubricated with sperm oil.
Lubricants are typically made up of 'long-chain molecules.' When I read
that I got a mental image of ropes or strings. That's wrong. What I'm
about to say is also wrong in the technical/chemical sense but it will
provides a better illustration than does 'long-chain molecules.'
Liquid lubricants are beads. Thin lubricants are little beads, thick
lubricants are big ones. Grease is a special case. Grease is a necklace;
beads on a wire. The wire is usually lithium, molybdenum or some other
metal. The beads in grease are typically SMALLER than the beads in
liquid lubricants. The thickness of grease comes from the fact the beads
stick together whereas in oil the beads are free to move around.
Oil wears out when the beads get broken into smaller beads. Grease
wears out when the wire holding the beads together gets broken, when
the long strands become short strands.
Oddly enough, we don't change our oil because it wears out, we change
it because it becomes contaminated. The usual contaminants are water
and by-products of the gasoline combustion process. These combine
with the oil and create new compounds some of which are corrosive and
others, mostly carbon granules, make good abrasives. While some
combustion products get into your sump by sneaking past your piston
rings, most arrive there via your exhaust valves, which in the
Volkswagen are not fitted with seals.
While combustion products are something of a problem in all engines, In
older engines such as Model-T's or Volkswagens, a more serious fault is
that the crankcase is open to the atmosphere. Particulate contaminants
such as sand, dust, pollen, chicken feathers or whatever you happen to
be driving through get sucked into the crankcase, along with plenty of
moisture.
We change our oil to get rid of those contaminants. This wasn't always
the case. The normal oil consumption for many early engines was as
much as a quart every hundred miles. Early motorists considered an oil-
change to be rather foolish since they were replacing the entire contents
of the sump every five hundred miles. Back in those days you didn't
change your oil, you simply 'topped-up' the sump.
Up until the late 1940's all motor oils were of the same type and the
sumps of all engines of that era were open to the atmosphere. As
moisture and combustion products reacted with the oil, a thick, jelly-like
sludge was formed. This wasn't entirely bad since the sludge trapped
most of the particulate contaminants. But eventually the sludge would fill
all of the void-space within the sump and valve gallery, reducing the oil
capacity by as much as 80%. To get rid of it, the engine was periodically
'slushed-out', a steam engine term transliterated into 'flushed-out' when
applied to automobiles.
Slushing-out an engine meant removing the sump and valve gallery
covers and scraping out the sludge. It was a messy chore, usually
assigned to the youngest apprentice. (Ask me how I know :-) Flushing
out an engine meant filling the sump with an oily solvent such as
kerosene or fuel oil, running the engine for few minutes then draining the
oil. Unfortunately, dissolving the sludge in this manner released all of
those trapped contaminants. You got rid of the sludge but in doing so
you did a lot of damage to the engine.
Another alternative was to prevent the sludge from forming by adding a
detergent to the sump. Of course, that meant the contaminants would
remain in the oil but you dealt with that by draining the sump every five
hundred or a thousand miles.
It soon became evident that the strategy of adding detergent to the oil
and dumping it out at frequent intervals prolonged the life of the engine.
The oil companies, who owned most of the service stations, began
adding detergent directly to their motor oil and promoting frequent oil
changes. The drained oil was then recycled by the oil companies and
sold back to the motorist. Changing your oil instead of merely topping up
quickly became the standard procedure.
Old motor oil can be 'overhauled' by simply removing the contaminants.
Passing the oil through a filter gets rid of some of the contaminants but a
real overhaul requires that the oil go back through a refining process to
get rid of the chemical contaminants as well. Re-refined motor oil is just
as good a lubricant and the brand name stuff.
Synthetic lubricants are more durable because their beads are smoother,
in the chemical sense. They do not combine with the products of
combustion as readily as do natural lubricants. This greater durability is
of no benefit in early Volkswagens because the crankcase is open to the
atmosphere, forcing us to change our oil every couple of thousand miles
just to get rid of the contaminants sucked into the sump. You might want
to keep that in mind the next time someone tries to sell you the latest
flavor of sooper-dooper synthetic lubricant at thirty-two bucks a gallon,
justifying its higher cost by how well the stuff worked in New York City
cabs or Florida patrol cars. Remember the sperm oil and the lunar
lander? There are some applications where traditional lubricants work
best and your antique Volkswagen is one of them.
Multi-grade motor oils use small beads plus a plastic additive that is
sensitive to temperature. When the temperature rises, the plastic
additive pulls the beads closer together causing the oil to act as if it were
made up of large beads. But if the temperature rises too high the plastic
additive breaks down, leaving you with a sump full of small-bead oil
when you need big-bead oil. For example, 10W-50 means the oil is 10W
but has plastic additives that make it act like 50-weight oil as the
temperature rises. But if the additive breaks down you're left with a
sump full of ten-weight oil.
Multi-grade oils don't break down until the temperature reaches about
350 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale, well above the highest
temperature in any watercooled engine. But in an aircooled engine, in
the area nearest the exhaust valves, it can get hot enough for multi-
grade lubricants to breakdown.
Oil Filters
Steam engines didn't have oil filters. When internal combustion engines
came along, they didn't have oil filters either. If it was good enough for
grandpa it was good enough for me, right? Nineteen million Model-T
Fords and twenty-two million Volkswagens didn't have oil filters, proof
that you don't need such things, right?
On the other hand, the service life of the Model-T was 20,000 miles. And
its normal oil consumption was one quart per hundred miles. The
Volkswagen was a phenomenal improvement. The VW was designed to
last for sixty-two thousand miles (100,000 kilometers) and to use no
more than a quart of oil every six hundred miles (*) Amazing
improvement, eh?
(*) That's right, up to 3.4 pints per thousand miles. Most veedubs use a
lot less but that is the spec for normal oil consumption. See the manual.
Today, the only thing we find amazing in such specs is how poorly they
compare to modern automobiles, most of which can be expected to
deliver up to a quarter of a million miles of service and measure their oil
consumption with an eye-dropper instead of a bucket.
A major factor in this remarkable improvement in durability is cleaner oil,
achieved by passing the output of the oil pump through a treated paper
filter before any oil is delivered to the engine. This is called 'full-flow
oil
filtration,' meaning the total output of the pump is filtered even though
only a few ounces of that are used for lubrication. This repeated filtering
of the oil supply prevents most contaminants from doing any harm.
Ford Motor Company published the results of a formal study of full-flow
oil filtration in the mid-1950's in the Journal of the Society of Automotive
Engineers. Their report offered conclusive evidence that full-flow oil
filtration reduced all modes of engine wear by a substantial amount, up
to 600% in some cases. On the basis of that report, full-flow oil filtration
systems were immediately adopted by all major automobile makers…
except Volkswagen.
Hot-rodders, whose engines often represent an investment of thousands
of dollars, were among the first to appreciate and to use full-flow oil
filtration systems. Following publication of the Ford study, Volkswagen
enthusiasts came up with a practical means of adapting full-flow oil
filtration systems and found that doing so doubled the life of their
engines.
The Type IV engine was designed around a full-flow oil filtration system
but it took the Mexican engineers at the Puebla plant to come up with a
retrofit for the early model VW engine. Their add-on filter-pump adapter
was introduced in 1992 and copies are widely available from after-market
sources. Unfortunately, a high percentage of the copies do not fit
correctly. Unaware of the problem, many VW owners hoping to improve
their engines ended up destroying them by bolting on the poor quality
filter/pump adapters.
KEEPING IT GREASY
'Keep her greasy, she'll keep going,' was the punch line of a hoary old
joke having to do with a misunderstanding between a bridegroom named
Ford and a deaf mechanic named Doc. It was a real thigh-slapper. But
like most folk humor it contains a nugget of wisdom. With regard to cars,
keeping her greasy DOES make her last a long time.
Mention lubrication and the first thing folks think of is changing their oil.
That's okay. But when it comes to Volkswagens, most folks do about as
much harm as good because they remove the sump plate. Remember
the thing about old-fashioned non-detergent oils and sludge? That's why
the VW engine has a sump plate. So they could flush out the sludge.
See that void space under the strainer? That's part of your sludge
collector. If you are using non-detergent oil then you MUST remove the
sump plate and get the sludge outta there. But if you use modern high-
detergent oil all you need to do is remove the drain plug; you should
leave the sump plate alone. And stop calling the strainer a filter. It's
there to keep chunkies out of your oil pump, not to somehow
miraculously clean your oil. Oil filters remove particles so small they are
measured in microns. A micron is a millionth of a meter and a meter is
39.37 inches so a micron is about .00003937 inches. The mesh of the
strainer is about sixty thou (ie, .060)
That's like trying to catch fleas with a chain-link fence!
The main reason VW owners do so much damage changing their oil has
to do with the design of the sump plate and strainer. The sump-plate is
part of a five-layer sandwich consisting of the crankcase, a gasket, the oil
screen, another gasket, then the sump plate. To insure a leak-free
assembly you need to start with all of the surfaces being flat and clean
then use high-compliant oil-proof gaskets, non-hardening sealant and the
proper torque values for the six nuts. Things go awry right off the bat
because typical sump gaskets sold today are permeable cardboard
instead of resin-coated non-permeable gasket material. In plain
language, they are unsuitable as oil gaskets; they leak. That means you
have to spray the cardboard jobbies with a non-hardening sealant. Most
folks don't. So the sump drips oil. So they over-torque the nuts which
bends the hell out of the sump plate and the flange of the oil pickup
screen and after that, it leaks even worse. Go figger.
The other thing folks do wrong is to NOT replace the crushable copper
washers on the sump studs and drain plug. The copper washers are
designed to do two things. The first is to form an oil tight seal, the
second is to prevent the drain plug & acorn nuts from coming loose.
Crushable copper washers are a one-time-use item. On installation,
when torqued to the proper value, it gets crushed. The crush is what
keeps the oil in and the drain plug or acorn nut(s) from coming loose.
Re-use the copper washers and you have to over-torque them to form an
oil tight seal and by that time there isn't any 'crush' left, meaning things
are going to come loose. Loose acorn nuts, you got a leaky, messy
sump plate. But a loose sump plug can cost you an engine.
Over-torquing the drain plug also strips it out. The proper fix is to replace
the sump plate AND drain plug but most folks just get one of those
expanding rubber plugs and torque it in there and give themselves a pat
on the back for being so smart. A high percentage of the Volkswagens I
see have those IQ tests installed.
The crushable copper washers you need to do a proper oil change are
part of the oil change gasket kit. Unfortunately, some outfits charge up
to five bucks for the kit, making an oil change a rather expensive
proposition. Which is why so many people re-use the same old gaskets
and washers, over-torquing the hell outta things in a wasted effort to stop
the drips.
Usta be, you could go down to the VW dealer and buy just the crusable
copper washer for the sump plug. Cost something like eight cents. But
since Volkswagen has abandoned their aircooled vehicles don't expect
to find the drain plug washer at a VW dealer. Some FLAPS carry them
(look in the Dorman trays) but most don't. Fortunately, Toyota and
Nissan both use crushable sealing washers on their sumps, including
one size that fits the VW drain plug. So take your drain plug to your
Toyota dealer and pick up a baggie of washers. Cost is presently about
half a buck each. Cheep, compared to five bucks for two cardboard
gaskets.
Another major part of keeping her greasy is your tranny lube. It's good
for two years of normal use, less if you do a lot of driving, ford creeks,
dusty, unpaved roads and so on. The tranny and differential holds 85
ounces of lube, same as your engine (ie, 2.5 liters or 5.3 pints).
To change your tranny lube you begin by removing the FILLER plug…
cuz if you can't get it out, you don't wanna remove the drain plug until
you can. The tranny filler and drain plugs are tapered so you have to be
careful when you torque them in. Too much muscle and you'll crack the
tranny. The plugs are socket-heads, they accept a 17mm Allan wrench
or you can make up a tool using a 17mm nut or the head of a 17mm bolt.
Once you've drained the tranny you refill it by PUMPING the 90W lube.
FLAPS will sell you a suitable pump. But they may not have a suitable
lubricant. You need GL4 type for old Volkswagens. Most folks will try to
sell you GL5, which is the present-day standard. Unfortunately,
Volkswagens started using cheap aluminum-phosphor-bronze synchro
rings about 1958 and GL5 contains additives that cause the synchros to
corrode. So be sure to use the right stuff. Every two years.
The axle boots are part of your tranny. If they are leaking, replace them.
If you have a 4-joint rear end (ALL Volkswagens have 'irs' rear
suspension. The problem is that the magazines don't know the
difference between the different types of independent rear suspension.)
…if you have a 4-joint rear end, use CV lube and your needle to top up
the CV joints. Or dismantle & relube them every two years. (Hell of a
chore.)
The third most common category of greasy is lubing your front end.
Here again, most folks make a serious error.
You know enough to CHANGE your motor oil. And you know enough to
REPLACE your tranny lube. So will someone please tell me whythehell
all the kiddies simply TOP UP their chassis lube?
To lube your torsion bars and spindles and anything else that uses
grease you count the strokes until you see grease coming from the
vents. Then you give it that many MORE strokes. The whole idea
behind a grease job is that you are trying to CHANGE the grease, not
merely topping it up.
Your front wheel bearings are the last common 'greasy' item. And the
specs for packing Volkswagen wheel bearings are different than for
American cars (those that still use unsealed bearings). The difference is
that Volkswagen requires you to FILL the void-space with new grease,
after removing all of the old stuff. A lot of folks just grease the bearings
and let it go at that. Doing so insures early failure of the wheel bearings
due to lack of lubrication. Don't take my word for it. All of this is in the
Volkswagen manual. The real one, not that 'official' joke from Bentley.
And right about there most people stop. Engine, tranny, chassis and
wheels. All done, right? Not quite. Most Volkswagens use an oil-bath
air-cleaner, which is good; they work better than filters made of treated
paper. (Treated paper filters came into use not because they are better
but because it costs less to replace the filter element than to clean an oil-
bath filter.) Each time you change your oil you're supposed to scrub out
your air-cleaner and replace the oil. In addition to the oil bath your air-
cleaner incorporates a labyrinth-type filtering element made of coir.
Once a year or when otherwise needed, you flood the coir element with
solvent, slosh it out, let it drain than soak it with kerosene. The kerosene
serves to glue particles of dust to the coir fibers.
Now you're all done, right? Actually, you're just getting started :-)
Let's begin with the steering gearbox. Same rule as for the tranny;
change it every two years. Now lets look at your tie-rod ends. Do they
have Zerks? If so, lube them. But many of them are 'lifetime' parts,
meaning they'll only last about half as long as they could. So you get
yourself a 'boot needle' and squirt some lube into them anyway. (Boots
gone bad? Sorry Charlie. If the boot is bad, so is the tie-rod end. Plan
to replace them.) Ditto for your ball joints and CV joints; the boot is a
necessity. Once it has failed the joint becomes contaminated.
How's your hood latch? It gets a different kind of grease but it still gets
some. Or should. Ditto for the cable, which you are supposed to
remove, clean and re-lube periodically (or discover the thrills of breaking
into your own trunk).
Door hinges. Door latches & striker plate. Door lock (dry lube only,
please). Window regulator. Wiper shafts. Wiper MOTOR (it has a
gearbox too, you know). Ignition lock(!) Windwing latches & pivots.
(Ditto for push-out quarter-windows.) Gear shift, including the Infamous
Grommet. Glove box latch & hinges. Heater valves. Emergency brake
lever. Pedal cluster. Clutch cable & throttle wire. Heater wires. Seat
tracks. Seat backs. Visor pivot. Deck hinges & latch. Throttle shaft &
linkage. Graphite or other dry lube on the air flaps & thermostat linkage
(oil or grease collects dust).
Got a radio? Does the antenna extend? Then it gets lubed too. And if
it's a powered antenna you've got another motor & gearbox to deal with.
------------------------------------------------
Back in the good old days, whenever that was, most of the items above
were checked and lubricated every time you took your Volkswagen to the
dealer for service. They used a check-off list to be sure they didn't any
of those 'unimportant' items and they used the proper lubricants for each
case, about a dozen different ones and several different applicators.
They did the work so neatly that you couldn't tell it had been done. All
you knew was that you took your bug in for an oil change and got it back
as good as new, or nearly so.
Today, we hear a constant litany of broken hood latch wires and sticky
brake pedals and doors you have to slam nine times and bad wipers and
wacky steering …
Now you know why.
Your antique Volkswagen is a high-maintenance vehicle. If you paid
someone to do all of the required maintenance according to your
vehicle's original preventative maintenance schedule, you'll find it costs
more to own & drive than a modern luxury car. But if you fail to give your
veedub the maintenance it REQUIRES you'll soon find yourself driving a
piece of shit.
It's up to you. You're the Mechanic-in-Charge.
-Bob Hoover
-25 April 2K
Randy Post
I hope that many of us are printing this information for later
reference like I am. It's like getting new chapters of the
"Sermons" for free.
For example, I didn't know that the copper washers that go around
the sump studs were not designed to be reused. That might explain
why my nuts are loose sometimes -- I'm refering to the acorn nuts.
Randy
Jack
Thanks, as always, for your excellent and very informative articles. I have
a question after reading this latest TULZ article. You mention using a
syringe and needle to lube CV joints. I assume you mean puncturing the
rubber with a needle. What size syringe/needle do you use, and i guess this
doesn't leak afterwards? Thanks.
--
Dave
72 Ghia Cabrio
"Veeduber" <veed...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000426002439...@ng-fd1.aol.com...
> TULZ - Part Seven
> systems were immediately adopted by all major automobile makers.
> To change your tranny lube you begin by removing the FILLER plug.
> cuz if you can't get it out, you don't wanna remove the drain plug until
> you can. The tranny filler and drain plugs are tapered so you have to be
> careful when you torque them in. Too much muscle and you'll crack the
> tranny. The plugs are socket-heads, they accept a 17mm Allan wrench
> or you can make up a tool using a 17mm nut or the head of a 17mm bolt.
>
> Once you've drained the tranny you refill it by PUMPING the 90W lube.
> FLAPS will sell you a suitable pump. But they may not have a suitable
> lubricant. You need GL4 type for old Volkswagens. Most folks will try to
> sell you GL5, which is the present-day standard. Unfortunately,
> Volkswagens started using cheap aluminum-phosphor-bronze synchro
> rings about 1958 and GL5 contains additives that cause the synchros to
> corrode. So be sure to use the right stuff. Every two years.
>
> The axle boots are part of your tranny. If they are leaking, replace
them.
> If you have a 4-joint rear end (ALL Volkswagens have 'irs' rear
> suspension. The problem is that the magazines don't know the
> difference between the different types of independent rear suspension.)
> .if you have a 4-joint rear end, use CV lube and your needle to top up
> wacky steering .