Post
by Amskeptic » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:21 pm
Do not allow any car's engine to sit in the driveway idling when cold. Start it up, get it stabilized, take off and be gentle.
Prolonged idling will melt the Subaru's substrate in the catalytic converter, and it will contaminate the oil with acidic condensate in all cars. The air-cooled VW especially wants a quick warm-up to get the heads/cylinders/case all clamped up at operating temperature. A cold VW engine will allow leaks between the heads and the cylinder barrels and the exhaust manifolds-to-ports. You can both hear canary chirps when sealing rings first begin to leak and those cold exhaust leaks that go away after a few minutes, and you can smell leaks between the heads and cylinders in the heater/defroster airflow that cleans up when the engien gets warm.
If your commute is too short, Velo, either prolong the return commute with a scenic drive, or change the oil more frequently.
Does anyone have a thermostat fail-safe spring and a cross bar separate from each other? I'd like to know if an enterprising soul might try to wind the spring onto the cross bar. It might be like a keychain ring from hell, but it might also save you from some ugly disassembly.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles