Picasso 1.6 Petrol Burns Oil + Losing Coolant

devk · Post Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:23 pm

My wife's C3 Picasso 2010 1.6 HDi (120 bhp) has been burning oil for ages and is now also losing coolant too. We need to top up the engine oil every month or so as the light comes on. I've done the usual visual checks and it's been serviced regularly.

All of the visual checks are okay, no sign of leaks. It's only done 54k miles so it's very strange and my wife doesn't exactly drive it hard! At first it was pretty much just losing oil, but now it's also losing coolant too.

I suspect the head gasket has failed, or is failing. If it was just oil, I guess it would be the valve stem seals or oil rings.

Does anyone have any info on this please? I guess I need to get it compression and leak tested?

Arfur Dent · Post Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:30 pm

devk wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:23 pm My wife's C3 Picasso 2010 1.6 HDi (120 bhp) has been burning oil for ages and is now also losing coolant too. We need to top up the engine oil every month or so as the light comes on. I've done the usual visual checks and it's been serviced regularly.

All of the visual checks are okay, no sign of leaks. It's only done 54k miles so it's very strange and my wife doesn't exactly drive it hard! At first it was pretty much just losing oil, but now it's also losing coolant too.

I suspect the head gasket has failed, or is failing. If it was just oil, I guess it would be the valve stem seals or oil rings.

Does anyone have any info on this please? I guess I need to get it compression and leak tested?

Hi

Your car bio is all wrong and conflicts what you have written. Please rectify the information.

devk · Post Sun Feb 27, 2022 2:11 am

Arfur Dent wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:30 pm
devk wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:23 pm My wife's C3 Picasso 2010 1.6 HDi (120 bhp) has been burning oil for ages and is now also losing coolant too. We need to top up the engine oil every month or so as the light comes on. I've done the usual visual checks and it's been serviced regularly.

All of the visual checks are okay, no sign of leaks. It's only done 54k miles so it's very strange and my wife doesn't exactly drive it hard! At first it was pretty much just losing oil, but now it's also losing coolant too.

I suspect the head gasket has failed, or is failing. If it was just oil, I guess it would be the valve stem seals or oil rings.

Does anyone have any info on this please? I guess I need to get it compression and leak tested?
Hi

Your car bio is all wrong and conflicts what you have written. Please rectify the information.

Oops, changed it now thanks.

C3CAR · Post Sun Feb 27, 2022 9:56 pm

Hi

With both oil and coolant missing, this could easily be the head gasket and getting that tested first would be useful to see where to go next.

Get a diesel head gasket test here (eBay) and if you also have rings gone, it won't be worth stripping the engine out to fix it, when a replacement could be a cheaper option.

Also look for the mayo or oil and coolant mixing in the header tank.

devk · Post Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:30 am

C3CAR wrote: ↑Sun Feb 27, 2022 9:56 pm Hi

With both oil and coolant missing, this could easily be the head gasket and getting that tested first would be useful to see where to go next.

Get a diesel head gasket test here (eBay) and if you also have rings gone, it won't be worth stripping the engine out to fix it, when a replacement could be a cheaper option.

Also look for the mayo or oil and coolant mixing in the header tank.

Hi mate,

Thanks for the link - I've ordered that and will report back. Do I need to drain a bit of coolant for the test to work do you know?

I've looked underneath the oil cap and there is a thin line of mayo looking stuff.

I actually read somewhere that an engine was cheaper than getting the gasket replaced on these, that's crazy! Does anyone happen to know the model of the 1.6 HDi 120ps engines?

C3CAR · Post Mon Feb 28, 2022 1:37 pm

You just drain a little out of the coolant expansion tank, nothing major.

The mayo is often a sign of oil mixing with the coolant.

The cost of a second hand engine is set by the availability of the engine and how much people are prepared to pay for it.
The cost of replacing a head gasket is 90% down to the labour cost of doing the work. The actual part is quite cheap.

You can save a fair bit of money doing the work yourself, but you can loose hair and skin off your knuckles.

Considering your engine burns oil and rings etc are suspected, I would think a replacement (used) engine is the way to go with this one, or just trade it in / sell it at an auction for someone else to sort out.

devk · Post Mon Feb 28, 2022 4:51 pm

C3CAR wrote: ↑Mon Feb 28, 2022 1:37 pm You just drain a little out of the coolant expansion tank, nothing major.

The mayo is often a sign of oil mixing with the coolant.

The cost of a second hand engine is set by the availability of the engine and how much people are prepared to pay for it.
The cost of replacing a head gasket is 90% down to the labour cost of doing the work. The actual part is quite cheap.

You can save a fair bit of money doing the work yourself, but you can loose hair and skin off your knuckles.

Considering your engine burns oil and rings etc are suspected, I would think a replacement (used) engine is the way to go with this one, or just trade it in / sell it at an auction for someone else to sort out.

I've done a bit of research and it's got the EP6 5FW engine, which sell for around £600 - 800 on eBay. I remember getting a quote for a head gasket replacement on this and was quoted £650.

The thing is, as you say we could do the head gasket but the oil rings could still be bad, so I don't think it's worth it. Not sure how much it would cost for someone to swap the engine over, but perhaps this is something I could try myself (never attempted but I've worked on cars for quite a few years).

My wife loves this car, she'd rather fix it then try and find another car. I tried to convince her ages ago to get a different motor, but she's hell bent on keeping it

.

Thanks for your advice.

C3CAR · Post Mon Feb 28, 2022 4:56 pm

The trick is to find exactly the same model and just buy it, al la 'fait au complet'

devk · Post Mon Feb 28, 2022 5:06 pm

C3CAR wrote: ↑Mon Feb 28, 2022 4:56 pm The trick is to find exactly the same model and just buy it, al la 'fait au complet'

I already said to her, you could just buy another Picasso but a newer one. "I wouldn't buy the same car again".... /facepalm

I said to her the other day, because I'm the one that has to repair and deal with car issues, I should get to decide what she drives.

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