Oil leak
 

'92 300SE. I've got an oil leak coming from somewhere on the passenger side of the engine at the front.

I initially thought the leak was coming from the cam cover gasket. Cleaning that area has eliminated that as the source - it has stayed free of oil and the drip is back.

The leak is a very small one - each time I clean the pan, crossmember, etc, it takes weeks for it to return.

I thought it might be coming from the timing chain tensioner, but again, clean it off and the leak is back before that area gets oily again.

I think it's coming from something on the block behind the mounting bracket for the air pump/alternator.

Before I launch into pulling all that mess off, any ideas what might be back there? I'd like to have the seals/o-rings, etc on hand to prevent having to reassemble the car while I wait for parts.

Suggestions are appreciated.

I use tracer dye with a fluorescent uv light bulb. put the dye in your oil, run for a while and check when its getting dark. I put some in all the cars during oil changes.

Hey Brian, when you say "cam cover", do you mean the valve cover or the upper front cover? When I got a new valve cover gasket it came with a funny little square horseshoe shaped gasket, 6 months later I figured out (with some help here) how to and where it went, leak is now gone (from that part of the engine)