C3 Picasso Oil Leak, Smoke, Low Power....sometimes?

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JimTotnes
Posts: 1
Joined: 01 Aug 2023, 13:15

C3 Picasso Oil Leak, Smoke, Low Power....sometimes?

Unread post by JimTotnes »

Hey All

I'm new here and not a car expert but I am an engineer by profession and know the basics. I have a strange fault on my C3 and I wonder if anyone has any thoughts ahead of me taking it to a garage.

Had car for 3 years, 65K miles and never had an issue, serviced annually. Been a great car.

Out of the blue, got a low oil pressure warning. Checked the oil which was slightly low, so topped it up and warning went away.
Next few days I did some short trips around town, no problems, no warnings.
I then went 15 miles out to the dual carriageway, hit 60 mph and it didn't want to accelerate further, looked in the mirror to see a cloud of grey smoke, reduced speed and smoke went away, car running normally, still no warnings. My first thought was turbo but I have had them fail on previous cars and this isn't making any of the tell-tale whining noise, or metallic noise.
A look under the bonnet revealed a pool of oil sitting on top of (and all around) the intercooler.
It seems to be coming from somewhere under the two large hoses that connect to intercooler to the (Doseur?)

Currently, I have cleaned it thoroughly and intend to see if I can track the leak exactly.

The car now runs fine but I have not tried taking it out of the street yet!

Any ideas people?

Thanks so much in advance.
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Huskyxantia
(Donor 2025)
Posts: 3435
Joined: 30 Jul 2018, 22:11
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Re: C3 Picasso Oil Leak, Smoke, Low Power....sometimes?

Unread post by Huskyxantia »

Some ideas ,Are the seals ok in the turbo ? Oil feed pipe on top of turbo to engine block has a little mess filter pain to get to but they can block . Or a piston ring might be worn ?
Husky. :? Thinking outside of the box is better than sitting in a dark one.
:-D