Changing oil on an air-cooled Volkswagen is a pretty easy and normally pleasant activity. For relatively little effort you have the glow of satisfaction from a job well done. All the books say regular oil changes are a must so it has to be doing your car some good.
If you want to look after your engine, oil change intervals should be ignored. The true VeeDubber will replace the oil as soon as it starts to become dirty. That way you aren’t sloshing muck around your engine.
My recent issues with the camper have meant that I ignored this sensible advice and my oil was black and horrible. Time to drop it into the can for the recycling centre and put some nice stuff it.
A 21mm socket removes the big drain plug (if you don’t have one of these, change the sump plate when you next change your oil) and after a couple of hours the engine should be empty. Most of it is out after 5 minutes but it’s an excuse to leave the job while pretending it’s being done properly.
The sump plate is unbolted (10mm nuts) and the oil strainer is removed. Everything is cleaned up with white spirit and the muck left over goes into the recycling can. This is the only point things can go wrong – metal shavings on the plate can mean trouble.
Using a 50p change kit consisting of two card gaskets and some cheap washers, reassembly is simple but don’t go mad tightening the nuts in case they pull the studs out of the engine. Then tip oil in the top (2.5 litres) until it makes the middle of the mark on the dipstick. You need to check this after an hour or so as the oil takes a while to seep through the engine to the stick.
Clean up and feel that warm glow of success.
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