Weird 2.7 oil leak - care to speculate?

[cstreit]

So a friend of mine has a 2.7 CIS car and had a very strange oil leak that I simply cannot figure out where this might be coming from before we tear into it.

Symptoms:

1. Leak appears to be coming from the top of the engine, running down near the #5 cylinder at the head/cylinder junction.
2. While running on the track, there is a "regular drip".
3. With the car tipped heavily to that side, the leak doesn't get any worse
4. If you jack up the rear of the car, even with the engine off, 5+ tablespoons of oil will run out of this area onto the floor.

So with the oil pouring out in scenario #4, this seems to indicate that the oil is pooling up somewhere. However what stumps me is that there isn't really an area for oil to pool between the cylinder and the head, nor is there a "channel" for it to run from somewhere else into this area.

Anyone care to speculate?

[moneymanager]

A problem I had partially fits your description. On my 2.7 we found a small hole in the very small diameter "spring-like" round gasket between the head and the cylinder. Not sure if that seal was defective from the factory (it had been in for about 3k miles) or if somehow it just failed in service. A small hole had actually been burned thru it. And it did lead to a tiny oil leak.
I don't know what to say about the pooling. Could oil collect on one of the deflectors somehow and then move when you lift the car?
Jim Taylor

[PorschePilot]

When the pressure sending unit (for the idiot light) on the top of my 2.7 started leaking, it would leak at a very constant rate with the engine running and would continue to drip for a few hours with the engine off.

[Cipotifoso]

Another area that you might want to check is the rocker arm shaft for the cylinders in this area. If the swedge bolt loosens, this can be a leak source.

[TimT]

thermostat

the oil seeps , and pools around the breather tower. btdt