Hi all. I am still struggling with tracking down this oil leak.

I have somehow minimized the leaking to what might be considered acceptable IF it was not blowing onto the lower exhaust pipes. I have cleaned the engine as clean as I could possible get it (many times), put ultraviolet dye in the oil, looked with my UV pen light and I STILL cannot trace the source of this leak. It is clearly showing up on the passenger side of the engine on the lowest point available on the oil sump.

But when I follow the oil upwards I lose it in the upper third of the rear of the engine. I stick my hand in the rear of the engine and feel nothing in or around the exhaust cam area which I know is a frequent flyer for leaks. I do feel oil on the metal beneath and to the drivers side of the rear of the engine. I doubt that a mirror is going to show me more because it is a very thin layer. My question is what or where would be the sealing point on the rear most upper side of the engine. Where the valve cover of conventional engine might be. If it was any other car I would immediately replace the valve cover gasket to make sure that this was not the leak just because it is so easy to do. On this car I have heard that there is no conventional valve cover gasket but some sort of unusual 'chemical seal' in its place.

So while I am treating the rear main seal as the number one suspect I really do not want to go to the effort of replacing that without knowing, as certainly as possible, that the leak is not above that rear main seal towards the top rear of the engine. I am confident that I can do the repair and replace the rear main but it is surely going to be a struggle in my garage. Replacing the starter almost killed me....psychologicially.

I have found the instructions for replacing the rear cam seals but nothing for the 960 equivalent of a valve cover gasket. Can someone give me the approximate level of difficulty on this job and any step by step directions that might be available? Or compare the level of difficulty between that job and doing the rear main seal.

Thanks very much,
Jim Lee

1996 960 Wagon 125k