Oil for Renault 1.9dCi engine

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Thu 10 Jun 2004 21:02
Oil for Renault 1.9dCi engine - BobG
Last year I bought a Renault Megane 1.9dCi and was told by the service technician at the dealership from whom I bought the car that i should only use a full synthetic 5W-40 oil for top up. At 9000 miles I had the optional oil change in France using this grade of oil at a local Renault dealership ( by the way the price would make you smile ! ). When I brought the car in for its first full service at 18000 miles the dealership now tell me that a 10W-40 semi-synthetic is fine and that is what they use for servicing. Now that the engine has bedded in I intend to change the oil and filter at 6000 mile intervals.

Is a B3 spec oil OK for this engine if changed at 6000 or should I go back to a B4 synthetic. Is this just a ploy by the dealer to stock just the one oil or are they really saving me money ?
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Sat 12 Jun 2004 02:13
Oil for Renault 1.9dCi engine - dieselhead
Not sure why it's really necessary to change the oil every 6k miles using a synthetic unless manufacturers specify it. Big advantage of synthetics is that they stay in grade longer and degrade less quickly than mineral oils so it's quite safe to extend the drain interval to 10k. Also modern common rail diesels put less soot in the engine oil than older diesels that needed very frequent oil changes for this reason.
Using the old 6k oil change interval seems to me like taking the head of an engine of a modern car at 50k to do a routine de-coke and valve grind like in the old days. might give a marginal increase in performance but not really worth doing anymore. Just my view.
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