Fume smell in cabin with heater on at startup of car

[omodos]

Hello again, could this issue be caused by following: I had and have today a loss of power especially on inclines. So x5 world posts point to checking the vaccum accumulator and its hoses as in pics so picture yourself in front of headlamp looking towards firewall.


Now I noticed alot of soot on the stainless steel pipe as circled in yellow, I slowly yanked it and noticed that at the weld joints/seam it was loose coming away from here (shown by arrow) , loose as in the weld had failed, so the sootiness was caused by a leak from here? and hence the fumes in the cabin on startup and whilst heater was on being drawn in to cabin?


AND could this be the cause of my loss of power and the turbo not kicking in at all?

96000miles on her now pleeeease advise..... the smell i noticed for about a month on startup so not sure it coincides with my power loss today...but it may have gradually given way and affecting the vacum...dunno I am not as qualified as many here are powers1 wpoll etc