Penrite 10W 50. Wouldn't use anything else. I'm in New Zealand. Hot summers, freezing winters. And this is VERY important: It has ZDDP (zinc) which most modern oils do not contain in significant amounts as it destroys catalytic converters. On the VW the ZDDP is essential to protect the valve train exactly as you describe above.

I use the tears of my haters as oil for my beetle... Works like a charm !

Hello folks! I'm from Brazil and own aircooled VWs for 20 years. I always used 20w50 regular (mineral) oils on my cars. Although I live in Southern Brazil, where in winters our temperatures come close to 0°C, and in summers raises to 35+°C, the 20w50 does a good job. One thing I learned through research and readings, is that the API SL grade is the limit in this kind of oil, concerning to the ideal balance of ZDDP additive in Ppm in a "newer" oil. So, even if there are mlmore modern options in SM/SN/SP grades, I stick with SL, cheap and widely available. Changes at every 6 months or 5,000 kilometers. The results: my older engine (20+ years of age) never opened so far, and perfect running. One more thing: upgrade to a 26mm gear oil pump in every new engine I build. Cheers!

Here is my recommendation. All model Beetles will be more than happy with conventional 10w40, 15w40, and if you live in a warmer climate with mild winters, and hot summers 20w50. Changed every 5000 miles. You will never have any problems. That's it. Nothing more needed be said.

I’ve just changed my mind with oil. I’ve always ran t4 15w40 diesel oil but on my new 2332 I changed to 20w50 valvoline vr1 racing oil and couldn’t be happier. My idle psi when hot went up to a very happy number instead of almost 0

Im in Long Beach California , so it doesn't get that cold. I have always ran 20/50 valvoline R. It has a high zinc content for solid lift cams. Of, course the size of your oil pump and climate will dictate oil weight. Just remember modern oils are designed for modern cars with a very low if any amount of Zinc. What ever oil you use make sure it has a high zinc content designed for solid lifters/flat tappit cam.

After watching this I have tried synthetic in my baja with a 1968cc. Im using 5/30 Kirkland brand. My head temperatures go from 280 to 310. It's 100 plus here in the high desert. The really trippy part. My oil temp is 90 to 110. Dog house with a remote filter and full flow so my capacity is 3.75 quarts. I do add some zinc additive. So far I'm a fan.

Im in Toronto canada. I used castrol 20/50 for 20 years till it finally dropped a valve. The tear down revealed little to no wear.

Thanks for the good info. I use Pennzoil SAE 30 in my new dune buggy 1600 CC engine for now used in state of Wiscinsin in summer time only if I ever switch would be 15W40 dino, I also add ZDDP Zinc to oil, Chris

First of all great video, thank you!! Here in Las Vegas where it's a bit warm I do run the Valvoline VR1 20/50. Porsche 1.8l I chose the Valvoline VR because it claims to have two times zinc❤ 2 times what I don't know. Now I think I see Valvoline also produces VR1 in a synthetic and that interests me. Because, not to get into any kind of arguing or fighting but I think if the oil geek says it, it is so.

This is a great video! Thank you very much for all of the information and the great reference you had here. Cheers from an owner of a VW Split screen in Brazil! :)

meh.... My older brother owned a very successful German car shop for over 30 years. His slaves worked in the right side three bays on VW's, while he, worked in the two left side bays on vintage and rare Porsches and Mercedes Benz automobiles. His re-built engines were done via customers shipping them to him, and getting them back gold plated. His car collection included two Mercedes 300 something "gullwings" an Adenaur limo, and several choice examples of the 356 Porsche, including two with the early 12 volt electrial system. He was Austrian born and raised, worked to the blasting sounds of Wagner, and he knew his stuff. I drove aircooled Bugs. He built the engines and told me to use 30W Castrol GTX because the engines revved high for best efficiency and that oil was formulated for that type of use. He retained ownership of the engines and had a stake in their re-saleability. When I moved into a different Bug, he would remove the engine and sell it used to another client who was in need. He also used the same oil in his vintage 356 cars. That was in the late 1970's. My Bugs were all early 60's to 67. Same with my brother's Porsches. Your results may vary. All this was in the Pacific Northwest of Washington State, where yearly temps are mostly moderate. My takeaway - apart from what oil you use - is to change it like religion. That's more imortant than what weight is in the sump.

My Dad purchased a 1964 VW Beetle in 1964 from the dealership. We were not sure what type of oil was used when the engine was manufactured. On the first oil change, the engine had so much sludge in it. It was also getting harder to turn over the engine. My Dad cleaned out the sludge and replaced the oil with Havoline Motor Oil 30w. It was a High Detergent motor oil as recommended by the VW Shop Manual he also purchased from the dealership. Published by Delius, Klasing & Co. Bielefeld and Berlin. This manual states for the engine oil to be (HD oil for spark ignition engines). The lubrication points. Engine, oil bath air cleaner, carburetor controls, door hinges and felt ring in the distributor. Specifications were above 86 F SAE 30 W, and from 32 F and up to 86F SAE 20 W /20. Below 32 F SAE 10 W and finally anything below - 13 F SAE 5 W. Now days Havoline that we use has Anti Wear Additives, Zinc rating of 906 PPM (Parts Per Million). Yes, we still have the 64 Beetle.

I use Driven motor oil. Either their HR1 or HR5. Driven Hot Rod Oil is designed to protect your camshaft. With high levels of ZDDP to protect your engine. Driven Hot Rod Oil also delivers storage protection additives to guard your engine from rust and corrosion. These additives also prevent dry starts. Developed specifically for older cars, no other oil provides this unique combination of lubricant chemistry.

Has for me. I have always used Castrol in everything I run. One example is a riding mower. I bough in 1993. I wanted to do a test. So I added Castrol 10W40 to it for the first run. Every time checked the oil before and after running it,the oil was so clean,I never changed it. It is still running to this day. And i have tried other oils in the past on cars and trucks,but always went back to it. Liked and shared.

Redline 10-30 is all I’ve ever used In all weather conditions.

Excellent info. Turns out I'm using the best.

I'm in Pennsylvania. Summers can get hot but typical outside temps are 60-90 when I drive our bus (my bus is a 2L). Anything above that, I drive my RAV4 for the A/C. lol I've been using Valvoline VR1 10/30 in my bus with no issues. Other VW guys where I live use 20/50 & they don't have any issues either. I do have Castrol 20/50 at home too which I may try if we have a summer that is unbearable with heat. I've always been told though to make sure my vw HAS oil & to change it regularly and I shouldn't have any issues.

Nice information. Going to share it with my friends.

Valvoline Racing oil is a good option. You must use an oil with a high zinc content.

Whenever asked, I recommend “use oil with high zinc content”. The rest is up to you.

My 1835 has a big oil pump. I run the thinnest oil redeploy available here 5/20 with a few oz of the Lucas break in additive. Even here in metro Phoenix. Way to much oil pump. Hot idle is like 20. It’s in a Baja so I don’t run it super long at high rpm’s. In my beater 1649 with a regular size pump I run diesel type 15/40 with a pinch of the Lucas break in oil. I had oil pressure problems with hot idle before. I overheated it due to jetting once in 30 f weather. It was so hot the sleeve pulled out of the block when checking oil. Still runs ok. I only hit the freeway for like 5 miles max now.

Zink is the most important only use oil that has zinc in it like rotella or pretty much any oil used in diesel trucks 💯

I’ve been using Shell Rotella conventional for many years. Living in hot climates straight 40W or 15W-40 as a second alternative. My understanding is that the zinc level was adequate; I always use the STP supplement with it as well.

Great video 👍

I’ve run the AMSoil Z Rod SAE 10W-30 synthetic and love it. No issues.

Today in Southern Idaho it's 105°. My wife's dune buggy with a stock 1600 running conventional oil. 70 miles on the freeway head temp 400°. Shoot the dip stick and get 350°. My baja has 1968cc 9:1 compression and I'm running synthetic. My head temp 325° and dip stick 180°. I'm going to add the synthetic to the wife's dune buggy. That's just crazy cool.

I went through the same search and destroy mission of the best engine oil for my buggy engine when I bought it 2 years ago. After some research I settled on the Mobil 1 15w50 and will continue to use it here on out. No issue with Temps she runs nice and cool

i use Castrol classic 20W/50 in my 1968 beachbuggy works great.

In 45 years of working on cars. I have never seen a car fail because of the wrong oil.. They fail because they have no oil or no coolant. Today's newer vehicles like thinner oils It is always advisable to use OEM recommendations.

Thanks for your tips about what oil to be used for aircooled VW beetle, I do have a beetle VW drive it in a tropical condition at Cairo, Egypt, so your comments would be very helpful to find the fine tuned suitable oil for my car. Best regards

I run Mobil 1 15w-50 in a 65 Mustang with a 302 bored and stroked to a 331. I use the Mobil 1 because it as the appropriate amount of ZDDP in the oil for cars with flat tappet cams. I would assume the same oil would work well in our 74 Super Beetle with a pretty much stock 1600. I live in southern Arizona, and we don't get the crazy heat of Phoenix, but it's not unusual to get over 100* in the summer here and in the low 20's with the occasional dips down into the teens in the winters.

Lucas hotrod and classic 10w40 has a zinc ppm of 2100. This is all i use.( Im in the uk). Lucas does the hotrod and classic in 10w30, 10w40, and 20w50

Liked the video as it has so far come closest to what I'm looking for to see if if synth is ok to use in an air cooled British motorcycle. Perhaps after 1,000 miles running in

I put the deeper sump on my air cooled 1600 and run Shell Rotella 15w/40.

I’ve just had a 1600 rebuilt and the builder recommends 20W60 with zinc. I have Penrite 20W60 and the container state it is a suitable replacement for SAE 30.

The ratings on oil build on each other so the next rating up meets/exceeds requirements for the previous rating if I remember correctly. I own a Corvair so I needed to find the answer to the oil question and it seems there are a couple oils that can work well, heavy duty diesel oil like shell rotella t4, racing oils and air cooled motorcycle oil. Atleast the corvair engine can run quite hot so the oil needs to be made to handle the heat.

I’ve always used straight 40wt in the summer and straight 30wt in the winter

Hi there, any update on using Mobil for the last couple of months? Thank you

I run castrol 20w50. I use either a zinc addative or the 20w50 classic oil or whatever they call it which has more zinc in it.

What about aircooled motorcycles oil? I use Motul 7100 20W50 on my hog, who also is an aircooled pushrod operated engine,like the VW and 2CV. The only diference i see is HD have hydraulics lifter. Would it be a valuable option?

So what would be recommended for a 1915 with a turbo and external oil cooler and oil filter.

For my VW classics I use Morris SAE 30 mineral oil that seems fine. However, I am going to try an SAE 40 hoping it will not quite leak as much! 😃

Add liquid moly anti fiction too your oil

I’ve run quakerstate racing 15/50 q logic full synthetic oil with no problem.

I decided to use AeroShell 15W-50 to see how it performs.

Awesome video. I live in NJ and have a 71 Squareback w/ 1600cc, 73 Thing w/ 1600cc, 74 Super Beetle w/1776 cc and a 77 Baywindow w/2000cc. In all I run a 20W50. Temperatures in NJ falls within the high moderate range. Ive always wondered about the oil that I should use. I guess Im okay. Thoughts?

Morris lubricants in the UK

15w40 Rotella or Delo.

I personally run she’ll rotella 15/40

My 70 bug is provided 20w50. I do not drive in the winter months

Hogwash... Rotella 15W-40 Diesel oil for my deisel truck, lawn mowers, VWs and everything in between.......been using it for as long as you've been alive😂

Well synthetic what is it ! It’s plastic and plastic makes a good insulator, it’s used in electrical components as a barrier, I believe in Gene burg as it helps stop the transfer of heat and also won’t pull the heat away so makes sense to me the heads would be hotter, you don’t want the oil to go much over 100degrees as that’s when it starts breaking down 😊

How about adding zinc and phosphorous.

After I watched your video, I tried to find Mobil 15w- 50 but they don´t sell it in Mexico, so I´m trying Motul 15w-50 classic, any advise about that oil?

Back in the 70’s it was 30 weight that about what they had in California

O yes high zink is extremely important 😊

I have another thing to read regarding oil. This guy has his opinion and specifically has a section for air cooled engines. He seems like a blow hard but it's worth adding to all the other information you provided and take from it what you will. Do a search for Rat540. He also tests oil and has ratings of protection. He claims that zinc isn't the only factor and some of his tests showed that just because it had a bunch of zinc didn't mean it was better. He recommends 20-50 since air-cooled have a lower ability to control temperature. Cheers!

do we have the answer on head temps. I believe a blend of valvoline VR1 with high zinc and a conventional could be a good option.

10/60 Amsoil Euro oil. use Zinc break in oil for first 500 miles...

I stopped using Castrol 20-50 after I contacted them years ago and they said they have zero zinc. I switched to brad Penn 20-50. I have a turbo engine that seems to run okay on temps but I thought about lower the viscosity to help pull heat but I am not sure if that is a good idea.

What about using an STP additive?

Would the elevation of the place I live in influence the choice? Since a thinner air somewhat affects how an engine performs

Please do the test lol

You don’t need synthetic oil as you won’t be happy to run it for extended kms due to the crude filter.

AH ENGINE CODE: 1600 DP 1971 VW TRANSPORTER Location: Homer, Alaska Winter oil: 5w - 20 Homer winter air temp is between 0 - 20 degrees. Note: Zinc is added for conventional oil. Spring-Summer oil: 15w - 40 Homer spring / summer air temp is between 40 -75 degrees. Note: 15W - 40 Rotella T with triple protection has approximately 1200 ppm of zinc and 1100 ppm phosphorus at the time of manufacture. ( No need to add zinc )

I found this out the hard way. I thought I was doing something good for my engine. WRONG!!! SYNTHETIC OIL DOES NOT CARY HEAT AND MY ENGINE DIED VERY SOON AFTER CHANGEING TO SYNTHETIC!!! DON'T DO IT, YOU WILL REGRET IT!!!😢

I won't EVER use it again!!!

Just stop driving these old dogs.

I only use KLOTZ R-50 , my generator has 14,968 hours on it.