[Mondaveo]

Cheers NZ, I thought the tale would entertain a few of the older hands. My wife was more than a bit exasperated by the end of the first day, ah well, we all have to start somewhere. (I'm sure she'll be delighted when I attempt the same on her Barina next week?...)

Thanks for the alternative oil recommendations, I guess those ones are specified for the Peugeot applications of this engine, certainly at least I saw the Penrite Enviro+ come up in the list. From what I saw the C3 oils seem to be pricier than the WSS-M2C913 spec ones, is that right? I'd like to look into the Fuchs products but they don't seem to be carried by most retailers near me, so a bit less convenient to obtain...

My fuel economy seems to have gotten a tad worse lately - I'm projecting under 800km to a tank, and the times I've watched the DPF load it seems to increment somewhat rapidly. My driving pattern has shifted to mostly infrequent short trips which I know is far from ideal for a diesel motor, and hauling a bit of junk, and that may account for it. I reckon I'll do an intermediate oil change at 6 months to accommodate. I plan to grab another bottle of Penrite 5W-30 this weekend (currently on sale at Supercheap) but will be looking at the alternatives so I may not use it when time comes.