Low oil pressure and degraded wet belt.

[Mh1827]

Hi all. Just joined and seeking some advice and opinions.

My partner brought a 2017 DS3 1.2 Petrol. After a week it has come up with a fault. Quick scan at the garage showed low oil pressure. Mechanic looked under the oil cap and said the wet belt is flaking and that its debris is probably the cause of a blockage.

He quoted for replacing the wet belt and oil pump but said he’d recommend a new engine as you don’t know what damage has been caused.

I spoke to a DS garage and asked if a new engine is really needed. They said to have the sump removed and check the strainer. If it’s intact then engine will be fine, if it’s damaged then he’d recommend a new engine.

There’s still plenty of oil on the dipstick and there are no horrible noises from the engine.

What are your thoughts about whether a new engine is needed?

The dealer I brought it from is willing to pay for new wet belt but not a new engine. In that case he’ll give a full refund.

[Steve Walsh]

I would get a refund, a dealer should never have sold it without checking.

[Mh1827]

Agree. It’s an option, but want to know my other options.

[xantia_v6]

If the car was not driven with the low oil pressure warning, then there is probably no internal damage (yet), but small fragments of the belt would have circulated at least as far as the oil pump and filter (perhaps further if the filter was blocked) and these fragments are practically impossible to clean out and could block a small passage and cause a catastrophic failure in the future.

[PaulC5]

Possibly the previous owner of the car sold it since they were aware of the fault. If it were me I would be taking the car back ASAP and getting a refund, there are many more to buy without having one that is already showing a faulty engine. Just think of it as a near miss at emptying your wallet in the future if you kept it. Until taking it back I would not be using it since if the engine fails the dealer might not be as happy to give you all your money back and maybe even ask them to collect it.

If you do intend to keep the car make sure it has a DS dealer full service history although I suspect at 8 years old DS are unlikely to give any help towards costs if the engine fails.

[Mh1827]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I took the car back today and got a refund. Think I’m going to try to avoid wet belts, but that excludes most modern Fords, Peugeots, Citroens etc. Hopefully they’ll stop using them on new cars now.

[Steve Walsh]

Good move, well done

[PaulC5]

If you can get a 2017 DS3 with the 1.6 hdi engine these are usually reliable and should give good fuel economy.