# Which oil for new 1981 1.6 Rabbit Diesel



## montanawabbit (Mar 20, 2010)

I just had a complete rebuild done on my '81 Rabbit 1.6 diesel, and I'm trying to do some planning since it will be running tonight or tomorrow. I'm starting it out with Delvac 15-40 conventional motor oil. How long before the first oil change? I was figuring 500 miles. I was figuring a second oil change at 2000 miles. Should I switch to Rotella-T synthetic from there, or should I wait a while more? Or should I go synthetic at all? Living out here in Montana, I put a lot of miles on a car(99% highway,) which is why I bought this rabbit to restore, (I HAD a Dodge Stratus with the imfamous 2.7 liter 6, that rarely made it 100,000 miles, and I got it to 179,000 before it melted a sparkplug and sucked the whole plug into the motor, cracking the head and block,) So I like to take care of cars. All the lit on this car is 30 years old, so I'm not even sure if I should be running diesel oil, (Rotella, Delvac, Delo, etc.) but with having diesel trucks, and knowing what diesels do to oil, I'm assuming I should definitely have the extra protection. If synthetic is the way to go, what weight for this motor? There are days here in the winter that go to 30 below zero, there are many days during the summer that go over 100 degrees. I run 15-40 Delo in my Powerstroke year round and have no problems as long as the block heater is plugged in, (thinking about switching that to synthetic oil too.) Any input would be greatly appreciated.


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## animaniac (May 26, 2005)

0w/40 or 5W/40 fully synthetic for maximum protection or 10w/40 semi synthetic maybe good enough.

Would be wiser to use a thiner oil in the winter 15w/40 is on the thicker side and a 0w or 5w will flow quicker and give better protection to piston rings / bearings.

1000 miles is good for the bed in.


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## rickjaguar (Apr 23, 2009)

Switching to synthetic won't make any difference really.. but it is a better product. I had a 79 rabbit 1.6L used 15W40. Also an 83 Audi Coupe that took 15W40. If you choose synthetic picking a thicker weight is a good idea (20W50). The VW/Audi engines of that era like it thick.. keeps the running oil pressure at 5bar (ideal).
When i had these cars i changed the oil every 3000mi. (4x a year on average).


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