I have an oil leak that seems to be pretty substantial. Small puddle when parked overnight vs. droplets. It's a 2004 Touring 6MT. Noticed the leak when I bought it and the lower oil pan looked suspect- wrong RTV. I changed that and the oil cooler seal and made sure the cooler was tight. There was oil on the access cover for the water pump (had recently been changed), but I took that off and resealed it with Permatex Black. After a decent commute, it seems like the oil is leaking from the front of the engine ABOVE the front main seal, so I don't think it's that. Valve cover on driver side may have a small leak closer to the firewall, but would it drain all the way down and on the timing cover near the water pump access? Anywhere else I'm not considering?

Gotta get this thing tracked down before I DD it, because I have a 45 minute Atlanta commute.

 

Pictures will help, get all up in there and try to show where you think it's coming from. Could be something really dumb, which it probably is

 

its coming from that one place!

 

Could be the VTC covers.

 

Just took these pics with my iPhone after a quick lunchtime drive.




Water pump access cover- it is pretty grimey





another shot of the water pump cover lower vantage point





the bottom of this hose has oil on it





more of the same





oil pan and cooler line- I recently replaced the RTV, but it's collecting there and dripping though the seal is good.








replaced cooler seal and tightened cooler, but there is oil all over the oil sensor plug

 

UPDATE** I replaced the valve cover gaskets and spark plug tube seals (and plugs that were sitting in oil in the tubes) Still have a leak, less substantial, but still there. Would a front main failure make all that mess in the front? I don't think it's a rear main- looks pretty good back there, but I have to get this sorted out. Any recommendations would be helpful from those who have chased something like this down on their VQ.

 

You may have done this, but if it were me I would wipe everything down and get it clean so I could actually tell where the leak is coming from instead of it looking like someone bukkaked oil all over your engine.

 

UPDATE: So I found it. Front Main Seal was the culprit. When I removed the crank pulley I found a crack in it and replaced. Come to think about it, it had a little wobble to it previously. The woodruff key was a little bent toward the driver side, but i was able to get the new one on and put some blue loctite on the opening that sits on the crank. No wobble, seal & crank pulley replaced, and the best part was no leaks.