The other day when I was stuck in traffic I noticed some light smoke coming from the engine compartment. When I pulled over to check I noticed I had a new oil leak. The oil appears to be coming from behind the timing belt cover. I can only assume I blew an oil seal on the crank or the cam ? I have had 760's for a long time and never blew a seal like this before...I have had small leaks, but not a bad leak like this. Before I start pulling it apart, I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone before? I have been using the car for 4 months now, but the car did sit for an extended amount of time before this. Could the seals have dried out ? Thanks for the help !

You do not mention if it is Turbo or NA? How many miles? When were the three seals under the cover last changed?

Either way, you will likely find the flame trap, hose, vac hose, vac nipple or the oil separator (all parts of the PCV system) is clogged solid. Have you noticed the dipstick not fully seated? Another possibility (which would probably through a CEL) is the the vac hose to the flame trap became unseated or severely cracked.

Sudden, large-scale leaks are uncommon unless the seal was improperly seated in the first place.

Mike

The car is a turbo and it is fairly new to me. I bought it as a non running car and did various repairs months ago. I do not know if the seals were ever replaced, but there were no oil leaks up until now. I also cleaned the entire PVC system before using the car because I was aware of all that you mentioned in your post from owning previous 760's. I didn't see any signs of a build up of crankase pressure.