Need help identifying source of oil leak
 

Hello,

My otherwise 'dry' 1986 Targa has has started to mark it's territory! A small oil drip in the back of the motor has developed. It seems to 'pool' in three spots, so the oil is 'travelling'. If I wipe the area down and don't drive, it doesn't leak....the oil seems to appear after driving. There is a gasket there, not sure what this gasket is for, could that be the source? It is one of the oil pooling spots.

I've attached some pics, hopefully someone can pinpoint me to some potential causes of the drip. I have Lubro-Moly 5W40 synthetic in the car, and the car does not smoke or use excessive oil. Recent work includes replacing the oil pressure sender but I don't think the oil is coming from here as the sender area is always dry.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1279994498.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1279994547.jpg

Try to tighten the 2 nuts on the chain box and see if that helps. There is an oil sump in the chain box that holds oil against the chain box cover, you might try to tighten the couple 10mm nuts on the face too.
Other than that everything else is behind the cam gears as seals and not worth trying to stop the couple drops.
Bruce

thanks Bruce, I'll try tightening all the nuts down. I also am thinking I'm going to change the oil because I'm due, and I'm going to try some 20W50 dino oil to see if it maybe was the synthetic oil that caused the seeping.

Dan

you might look higher up, possibly on the connections for the cam chain tensioner oil lines.

+1. I had one, a while back, near that area that was crank or Intermediate shaft O-ring related

Best,

Doyle