poorly 2009 c5 2.2 62k help

[bigjono]

got a wierd one, 2009 c5 2.2 diesel saloon 62k on clock, when ticking over when warm smoke coming from back of engine like some things dripping on exhaust and burning, then in last few day started to cut out on tickover and tickover roughly, drives spot on no power loss etc, any ideas where to start looking, thinking egr ? NO warning lights on

[GiveMeABreak]

Are you sure the car isn't / wasn't in the middle of a regeneration of the Diesel Particulate Filter at the time? IF you had just returned from a journey it might of been in the stages of a regeneration when it was interrupted. Do you do relatively short trips? Might be worth taking it for a spin, letting the car reach normal operating temp. and then holding the car at higher revs 2000-2500 with speed not under 40MPH for about 15-20 minutes uninterrupted where possible. That might trigger the regeneration if it is needed.

[bigjono]

last trip was 130 miles to wales and back, few short journeys in week to work, looks like a spilt oil pipe/breather next to egr / at back of engine, goin get in air and get better view tommorrow

[dnsey]

If it's like the 2.0 in layout, there's a crankcase breather which runs across the top back of the engine, and which can become brittle. If it spit, it would produce the symptoms you describe, as there would be an air leak after the MAF sensor etc, and the condensing oil mist from the breather would drip onto the exhaust manifold.