Originally Posted by Bailes1992
Hi Guys,
Bit of a back story to thus one for those who are interested...
Our Dacia Duster is spec'd for either a 5w30 ACEA C4, 5W30 ACEA C3 or 5w40 ACEA C3 oil.
We bought the car on 3,500miles at 1 year old. The supplying dealer used a 5w30 C4 oil. The oil was being used at a rate of 1 litre every 1000miles.
At 5,000miles I got suspicious that the oil filter didn't get changed at the supplying dealers service. The area was far too clean considering its downwards tilted and the oil filter was ridiculously tight (quite a few mentions online about Dacia's and Renault's with the factory fitted oil filter being very tight). So I changed it out for Shell Helix Ultra AG Dexos 2 5w30 ACEA C3.
Again, this got consumed at a rate of 1 litre per 1000miles, although it did tail off a little towards the end.
When the car hit two years old I got it serviced by a garage for warranty purposes and supplied Fuchs GT1 XTL 5w40. This is a 5w40 ACEA C3 oil are carried s ton of approvals like LL04, 229.5, Dexos 2, 502/505 etc.
And the consumption stopped, dead. It hasn't used a drop of oil since.
6 months later and 5,000miles I'm ready to change the oil again. Probably premature but the car does a llot of short tripping.
I would like to try a 30 weight again in the future (maybe Castrol 0w30 C3/Dexos 2) and see if it starts burning again. But, at the moment I have in my garage 15 litres of Morris Lubricants HD4 15w40. A HDEO that meets ACEA E7 and E9. I see no reason why it would cause any issues in our Dacia for the next year or so.
However, I was concerned about the lowest usable temperature of a 15w oil in this engine. The lowest temperature I've seen since I've been driving is 11C/50F.
Will the 15w40 be fine through winter?
Not sure E7/E9 is suitable, C3/C4 are lower SAPS and E7/E9 could damage your emissions systems, far more costly to fix than saving on a bit of oil, I would not personally risk it.
Whats the coldest overnight temperature you get, your engine block/oil can often be colder than the current temperature in the morning first start, you will probably find 15w40 might put a strain on your battery (mention lots of short trips) in winter.
I'd personally choose a 0w30/5w30 meeting VW 504/507 or BMW LL04 and change annually/12k miles, they stand up well to short trips as suitable for far higher regular miles.