Pug 306 oil leak near turbo

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Mon 10 Oct 2005 11:03
Pug 306 oil leak near turbo - solara
Hi,

I have a minor oil leak, which has been recently been getting worse. This is the first time I will ever have to top up oil between 6k services, since buying the car 10 years ago. The oil leak has always been there (very minor), but didnt justify the labour.

It appears to be leaking from the lower bolt of the turbo, visible from underneath the car. It only leaks when the engine is running, resulting in a few drops when the car is parked up. I tried tightening this bolt in the past, but made little difference.

I guess this is related to the oil feed for the turbo. Is the oil return fed back into the engine through the mating surfaces? If so is this a new turbo gasket job? If the turbo oil seals were leaking, would I see an external oil leak, or would it be burned in the exhaust?

Any advice or likely cause is appreciated.

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Mon 10 Oct 2005 13:42
Pug 306 oil leak near turbo - RichardW
The oil feed is a pipe from the bottom of the block. I think this is unlikely to be any problem with the turbo, but is much more likely to be the head gasket. They all leak a bit of oil down the back after about 60k miles - how soon you have to change the gasket depends on how bad the leak is, and how clean you like your drive. I sold my last Xantia for spares becuase it had developed a rather serious oil behind the injection pump that can only have been the head gasket - that, combined with a knackered clutch and a matrix running on radweld borrowed time condemned it!

Although I have never tried it, and I am not at all sure it will do anything good (an may do bad things, like snapping a head bolt), it MIGHT be possible to nip up the head bolts a bit and see if that will stem it for a while. Otherwise, you are going to need to get accquainted with the inside of your engine (not for the feint hearted, or those who like keeping their knuckles...!)
--
RichardW

Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Mon 10 Oct 2005 14:32
Pug 306 oil leak near turbo - solara
The oil appears to be eminating from the lower turbo bolt, so I dont think its a HGF. I suppose I will have to take off the intercooler, and take a good look. May be a cracked breather pipe spraying onto this bolt, as its leaking from a strange place.

I know about the oil feed pipe, but where is the return? Does it return through the engine block via a gasket?
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Mon 10 Oct 2005 14:40
Pug 306 oil leak near turbo - Martin1981
If the turbo oil seals were leaking, as far as I know the oil will be burned in the exhaust, resulting in quite a bit of smoke when starting and when you put your foot down, even though they smoke quite a bit at times anyway. Also there would probably be traces of oil in the intercooler, so failed turbo oil seals result in an internal rather than an external visible leak. Quite common on older turbo diesels with over 100k on the clock by all accounts.

Regards
Martin
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Fri 10 Mar 2006 17:12
Pug 306 oil leak near turbo - solara
Finally got round to fixing it, after it got worse!
Apeeared to be the gasket leaking and loose rocker cover bolts.
Only visible once the intercooler came off.
Gasket was also stiff, so replaced it with a new soft one.
Nice clean driveway now!
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Fri 10 Mar 2006 17:13
Pug 306 oil leak near turbo - solara
I meant rocker cover gasket (not head gasket).
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Fri 10 Mar 2006 22:45
Pug 306 oil leak near turbo - razzle
I've just replaced the rocker cover gasket on my '97 306 TD at 122k miles. Was leaking oil onto the cambelt so got that changed at the same time to be safe. Apparently it's fairly common on these engines..

Raz.
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