Recently I asked Penrite about oils and how quite a few VW owners in Aust use Diesel Oil for their AC VW,s. What surprised me is they took some effort for a long reply and also in particular I thoughts comments re Diesel Oil interesting. As an aside I dropped into the the hardware store again and saw that Briggs and Stratton Monograde 30 is SG/CF rated!. Comments from Penright are below. Cheers J
Based on your enquiry regarding your VW:
Oils to meet modern VW specifications certainly contain less phosphorus and zinc than traditional oils from the 1970s. However, the modern oils won't be SAE 20W-60, more like 5W-30 (such as our Enviro+5W-30 , which is actually approved to VW504.00/507.00). More modern diesel oils, but not the very latest or those targeting diesel particulate filters, generally have a petrol rating that is just a few years behind their diesel rating. This makes them perfectly suited for older petrol engines. They are a better option than mainstream petrol oils if you are running on LPG, which generates more acid than petrol does when burned, or if you have a hot-running engine, like the Boxer Porsche-designed air-cooled engine in your VW.
Please have a look at the little list of zinc levels I've typed below as HPR30 has just been changed.
A multigrade oil is perfectly fine -we even have multigrade oils designed for such vehicles as the Model T Ford. SAE 20W-60 stands in for a straight
30 -which explains the name "HPR30" for our (traditional) mineral oil at SAE 20W-60. This is one of the oils recommended in our online guide for your Type 3.If you feel that you can get away with oil at SAE 15W-50 then the diesel oil option is HPR Diesel 15 (SAE 15W-50, semi synthetic). The diesel oil closest to HPR 30 is HPR Diesel (SAE 20W-60, mineral). In the information for HPR Diesel you'll see "API CH-4/SJ". The "S" refers to spark ignition engines ie those built for running on petrol (or LPG). The letter that follows it refers to how recently the specification came out: "SJ" is before "SL" or "SM" and the latest one is "SN".
Zinc level examples: HPR30>was at 1110 ppm, now raised to 1570 from batch number 118048 HPRDiesel>unchanged at 1220ppm HPR Diesel 15>unchanged at 1220ppm
((Enviro+5W-30> 670 parts per million))
In summary, If you are in a cool part of Australia and the engine was reconditioned fairly recently then HPR Diesel 15 might be a good choice, otherwise HPR 30 or HPR Diesel -especially in the top end or if you have an engine that likes to burn oil.
Regards, Alan
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