Been leaking for a while, not a lot, just enough to make a mess. Looks like a bunch of little leaks. What I'm hopin for is for a bunch of you to agree that it is NOT the rear main seal.

Here goes:
the bottom of the oil pan gets wet enuf to stay clean.
There was some gook under the timing cover and pan front.
The back of the pan is gookie.
It's gookie around and below the sending unit.
The outside of the bell and the enire trans, and most of the bottom of the car are fouled.
The inside of the bell is completely coated with a mix of oil and clutch dust.
Engine side of flywheel is same, except for the raised center area where it bolts to the crank, which is dry.
The end of the crank is dry.
The back of the block is gooky along the bottom, and the lower 3" of the sides.
The rest if dry, including up around the cam, and the entire main bearing boss.

I say: oil sending unit, front seal, pan gasket. Rear main's ok.

Show of hands?

Sounds like you described my car before my repairs!

My sources were: timing cover, front crank seal, oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, rear intake manifold gasket ( hate those things; now have RTV), and a dried out/hardened distributor gasket. The rear main was fine but I guess driving along blew everything down the underside. Good luck.

[ 11-28-2004, 04:10 AM: Message edited by: RickD ]

Jim,
check the rear manifold bolts for correct torque, as well as rear bolts on valve covers. found those were my leak areas. retightend and no leaks since. Hated that little drip of the rear of the oil pan! :mad:

I`ll raise my hand on that. I too had the "just enough to be a stain" oil leak. Oil pan and sending unit. If we were talking pontiacs here I would say go straight for the rear main! I`ve got a `77 TA with a `70 400 that`s probably spit out a few gallons in my lifetime. Good luck on that sweet convert. Scott.