Hi all, I'm bedeviled by an oil leak on the right side of my W126...1986 420SEL. I thought it was the valve cover gasket, because there was plenty of oil there, but I ran it through the hose-it-down-yourself carwash and drove it home, and there's no oil there. It was dark outside so I didn't get the lower part of the motor, because I couldn't see very well, but where are the most likely places I should look? FYI, it has 170K miles, runs 10w40 Castrol GTX. I'm getting the driveway resurfaced soon and my darling wife will murder me if the car leaves the huge oil stain on the new drive that it is leaving on the old asphalt now. Thanks for your help, Dave

have you looked to see if the cylinder head gasket is leaking oil? that is very common on the early V-8 engines, approximately what area is it leaking at?

It's too early to tell...this thing had so much grimy old oil all over the right side from the valve cover down to the drips on the ground and the suspension that I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I'm going back to the carwash in daylight to take another stab at cleaning off the old oil so I can get a better idea of the source of the leakage. I hope this isn't something that's going to cost a fortune...I'm trying this old luxury car thing, trying to avoid huge car payments on newer stuff, and with 2 teenagers driving, I need all the help I can get.

let's talk hypothetically...what are the chances it's a head gasket? and if so, what kind of expense are we talking about? is this a DIY proposition or no? what are the potential pitfalls/problems inherent to this repair? I do work in a multi-line luxury dealership-affiliated bodyshop so I suppose I could lean on one of the mechanics to do the repair as a favor if I have to...

__________________
2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics