18.000 miles no oil change in a '96 Renault and I opened the valve cover

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My gf owns this '96 Renault Megane Diesel (no turbo, 60 HP naturally aspirated).

The last OC was performed before the pandemic (more than 4 years ago and 18.000 miles).

She's been warned multiple times of the importance of OCI's (well, her bf is a BITOGer lol) (edit - MOD)

The car was leaking profusely through the valve cover gasket, so a couple of weeks ago I decided to replace it. Here is what I found:

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What do you guys think about it? It's the dirtiest engine I've ever seen in my life no doubt, but bearing in mind the fact it's a diesel engine I must confess that I expected something worse. But yeah, sludge is starting to develop in some parts of the camshaft and baked oil all over the place too.

Also, the car has emptied the oil jar I bought many years ago to top it off, so I'm gonna start to top it off with wasted oil I collect when I change the oil of my beemer... will this old Renault withstand it and if so, for how long? We'll see



NOW SOME PICS OF THE CAR:

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Whats-App-Image-2024-02-07-at-16-58-36-1.jpg

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It's the insides of an internal combustion engine, and a diesel no less. What are you seeing that you think needs to be fixed?

Replace the valve cover gasket, change the oil and move on with your life.

Nothing needs to be fixed now. I just changed the valve cover gasket and car is running as always. There's only one issue: valve lifters make a ticking sound for a couple of minutes when cold, but other than that it runs ok so far.

Needless to say that I have not changed the oil, I don't think I should carry with that cost if she thinks it's an ''unnecesary thing''. I just purchased the gasket bc its price was only 2,40 € and I had to buy some parts for my car, so I took the chance

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It looks not terrible for the OCI mileage. I would just take the car for a couple hours and do the oil change. Easier than nagging your girlfriend to get it done.

I do the oil changes on my two daughters' cars. It would never happen otherwise, no matter how many times I reminded them. Someday I won't be able to do their cars' maintenance, but in the meantime it's something useful to do and peace of mind for me.
 
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My gf owns this '96 Renault Megane Diesel (no turbo, 60 HP naturally aspirated).

The last OC was performed before the pandemic (more than 4 years ago and 18.000 miles).
I thought in Europe, most oil change intervals are substantially longer than people believe need done here in N America ? Plus, don't diesels also go longer on oil changes ? A quick Google search suggests this 18k mile interval is nothing to be concerned about.
 
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