Oil Consumption

I'm using about a half liter of oil a week now in my Bug. All the oil is coming directly from the oil breather tube and it gets spat out on the ground on a regular basis. As well, if you look at the inside of the cap or inside of the filler neck, there is a gelatinous white-grey substance (I'm assuming it's whipped-up oil?) that's constantly reaccumulating in volumous amounts.

Can you tell me what needs to be replaced to stop the oil from coming down and running out the breather, because its a noticeable quantity.

As well, when I start the motor, it vibrates when I first start it - just for a few seconds until the oil seems to get finally pumped to where its needed and then it quits down to normal.

Is that normal or is my oil pump needing to be replaced?

Rob wrote -

Do you have an oil breather line up to the air cleaner? This is essential as the VW engine has a spiral groove on the crankshaft and slots behind the engine pulley which pull in fresh air to ventilate the crankcase. This air is then drawn/forced up the breather tube into the air cleaner and the fumes burnt. If there is no line to the air cleaner the excess stuff comes out the road tube.

If the engine has low compression due to worn rings, etc. you will also get an excess of oily air coming out the breather, so do a compression test. A fresh 1600 should get you more than 130psi on each cylinder. This slowly drops with age and once any cylinder gets below 100psi it's time to start planning a rebuild. The engine will continue to run but with increasing fuel consumption and less power (and increased oil use).

The foaming under the oil filler cap is common in colder climates especially if the car is not used for very long trips. The cooling oil/air in the crankcase sucks in small amounts of moisture laden air which puts a little water in the oil. If the car is not driven enough to cook it all out, it builds up and foams the oil. Sometimes a good run will clear the problem for a while - until it builds up again.