Oil leaks (multiple?)

[98SF19]

Before I consult the pros I have a few questions on the subject . . .

It seems I have multiple oil leaks - front valve cover over cam (water pump side), and all around the oil filter housing area.
The first one I understand from researching the forum, can be either the valve cover gasket OR the cam seal. But there's definitely a shiny oil coating on the head wall just inboard of the pulley. I read a thread where somebody just removed the water pump belt, then the pulley, and slid on the cam seal. Sounded easy enough, and removing front valve cover to reseal wouldn't be hard either.
The second one is much more prolific - oil and grit all over the region of the oil filter, which has slowly trickled rearward onto the exhaust pipe and passenger side subframe rail. It seems that this could be either the oil filter assembly (cooler?), the motor mount, or the connection between the lower and upper block pieces. I've gotten hold of some diagrams of the oil filter housing assembly, and it seems that the metal gasket isn't sold anymore anywhere. But I'm unclear on what/where the "oil cooler" is. Pardon my ignorance, but the only fluid coolers/condensers I know of are the ones up front for trans oil, power steering, and refrigerant. Is the filter housing also considered the cooler? As for the silicone-sealed seam between upper and lower block pieces, is this something that would require major work were it to be the/a culprit?
FYI, I've never put any solvents into the crankcase.

Lastly, when a shop sprays mineral spirits all underneath the motor to check for a leak, is there any adverse effect on wiring or hoses? The few instances I've had of cleaning plastic parts with mineral spirits has led to a roughening/decreased sheen.

Thank you

 

[stephen newberg]

Wish I could help more but mine has never leaked a drop. Anyone that has had these sorts of problems have any thoughts?

As per the mineral spirits, so long as the keep away from any belts, it should not be a problem.

pax, smn

 

[98SF19]

Thanks Stephen. A colder climate may factor in with your "dry spell" re: oil leaks. I don't know if this offsets the ultimate cost of having the entire underbody exposed to salt each winter. Having said that, I've never had a complete body restoration (though several parts of the car could do with one!) but I'd gladly take on a few more cosmetic flaws to have a leak-less motor/motor mounts/power steering system, etc.

Thanks for the further solicitation as well. Anymore, I don't expect the quantity of responses like in the early days of this site, and on several occasions recently, I've gotten virtually no responses. I think I'll change my avatar and see if that helps.

Per my post, it appears today (after spraying a mixture of hot water and liquid dish soap in several applications a few days ago) that the suspect spot behind the compressor doesn't have fresh oil, but the spot under water pump cam pulley is fresh, and the passenger side motor mount has a nice shiny coating all around it. Question: how much hyd. fluid do the mounts contain? Of course the region of the oil filter is caked on. This all came on recently as I hadn't noticed anything over the last few oil changes (and the oil spot in my rental driveway was starting to fade!)

 

[stephen newberg]

The full body restore was certainly interesting, and a bit expensive, but considering I have over 200k on the car and it was either do that or start thinking about scrapping her (it had gone through three layers of metal and support in the rockers below the doors, so was headed toward structural). We had put most of those miles on in Nova Scotia, which salts a lot and has serious winters. The miles going on the car declined a lot when we retired and moved out here to Vancouver Island, BC, at the end of 2004, and they do not really have winter here, or salt the roads, so doing the job made more sense as it would be a one time thing and then hold her as a classic indefinitely. She was still a daily driver until the end of 2012, which I bought the 911.

Sounds like a seal in the water pump area. As per the mounts, I do not think they contain any huge amount of fluid. Sounds like you have 3 problems in total, and for the filter might have to go to some generic sort of seal.

pax, smn

 

[98SF19]

http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/RepairingaLeakyOilCooler.htm

KERPLUNK!
One of several invaluable contributions by Mr. Lehmann (fuel pump cutout write up with pics is killer!) This will hopefully resolved what seems to be the worst-leaking oil leak I currently have. If this link had begun with "Oil" or "Cleaning" I would have caught it earlier, though I still would have posted about the lower seam and the mount.