I can see that oil drips off the oil pan but I see two big drops in the back and not sure if they are oil pan related or something else. The car's been on jackstands for about a week - is it just the angle of the car that it's showing more leaks? I changed the plus last weekend - top looked leak free. Car is approaching 200K. Any help is appreciated!

For the image go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28951761@N08/?saved=1

Well with 200k It could be the rear rocker cover gasket leaking. Plus the oil pan gasket could be suspect as well. They are known to go bad. Unfortately you need to get the motor up and out of the cradle to drop the pand to change the gasket.

Thanks for responding. I did replace the plugs and wires last weekend and there wasn't any oil back there so I think the valve cover is okay. I've got a cherry picker so I'm planning on replacing the oil pan gasket some sunny day. I've read the front crank seal can be changed while in there as well so I plan to do that too.

Are those two areas the most likely culprits then? Anything else I should do while under there since it's up in miles?

Thanks.

oil pan sounds like the culprit. If i were you, I would replace the valve cover gasket. And a whole lot of other ones in there

Okay sounds good - I just read a rocker gasket replacement write up here and I can handle that. What 'other ones' were you referring to. I want to keep driving it for a long time so I am willing to do the maintainence (with in reason).

Intake manifold would be smart.

Is it a GT or GTP?

GTP. I remember about 1 1/2 years ago it was leaking coolant and I had it replaced at my small town garage for like $60 bucks. So that one should be covered. I've been reading the plenum gasket should go to..

you dont have a plenium gasket. you have a supercharger gasket, which would have been replaced when the LIM gasket was done.

Okay thanks. I remember when the mechanic fixed it he said there was two places that it normally leaked and the one it turned out to be was the cheap one. The leak was behind the engine near the firewall - LIM or did he do something else then?

That woulda been the valve cover.

I'm not sure if it applies to your car, since it's a GTP.. but my SE has an oil level sensor on the bottom of the oil pan.. why it's in the bottom, I have no idea.. but I spent a good 2 days trying to figure out where I was leaking oil from.. turns out the sensor was letting it through.

On a side note, you didn't happen to grow up in Iowa, did you? Just curious..

So the idiot light will come on when you have no oil. Just like the oil pressure sender when the oil pressure drops below 5 psi.

The leak was coolant when I got it fixed so it wouldn't be the valve cover? My sensor is on the side and when I looked it seemed okay but I'll double check. The picture doesn't show it but there are beads of oil all along the edges of the pan.

I grew up in Southwest MN. My brother married an Iowagan though.

So I looked closer and there is oil on the intake manifold. Here's the pic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28951761@N08/2699571715/

The bottom right is the front rocker cover and you can see the fuel rail above my thumb and to the right of my thumb is a pool of oil. Must be from the injector o ring or valve cover? Guess I better read up on injector o ring replacment too :rolleyes:

Valve cover gaskets are the place to start. With 200K on the engine you’re opening a can of worms if you pull the engine and try replacing all the seals. It just isn’t worth it. My advice: replace both valve cover gaskets (hard enough) and then drive and monitor for leaks. Save pulling the engine type of job for when you need to replace or perform some other major work on the engine or transmission.

BTW when you replace the valve cover gaskets have 2 new coolant bypass elbows ready because they will almost certainly need to be replaced. You’ll run into those plastic coolant bypass elbows when you need to move the alternator out of the way to access the right (rear) valve cover.