Engine oil leaking down from lower power steering hose

[coldweatherblue]

Noticed my car has a worsening oil leak. Oil seems to be leaking from the front of the engine (can't see where without removing timing belt cover, etc). It ends up dripping down my power steering hose and then onto the ground. Fair amount of oil (a liter every 500 miles) The car uses no power steering fluid, the level of PS fluid hasn't changed in >8k miles.

just curious where the leak could be coming from. don't have time to spray it down at the moment 2/2 work schedule so was just wondering if any r3v'ers had seen a similar phenomenon?

recently replaced the valve cover gasket (no more leak there) and the oil pan/gasket has been recently replaced as well. Oil return tube doesn't appear to be leaking. Where could a leak spring from that would cause engine oil to appear on the PS hose?

Thanks

[whodwho]

Pull the wire off the oil pressure switch and see if it is oily. It was not uncommon for the oil pressure switch to go bad and pump oil thru the harness and comes out the harness on the drivers side.

[jlevie]

Oil leaking anywhere off the front of the engine tends to drip off the right side of the engine because of the angle of the engine. And there aren't may possibilities for a leak on the left side that could wet the PS hoses. Oil there is more likely to be from the PS system.

There are two ways to find the cause. One is to clean the engine/PS and watch for the first sign of oil. Another is to add UV dye to the engine oil and use a UV light to identify the leak.

[coldweatherblue]

Thanks for replies.

I definitely thought it was the PS hose at first as well but it doesn't appear to be using ATF fluid from the reservoir.

I recently replaced the valve cover gasket but didn't do the rocker plugs.. cleaned the crap out of the mating surfaces (PO had used tons of RTV previously). I'm wondering if I cleaned some "leak preventing" RTV off the plugs when I installed the gasket and now the leak has increased. The spark plug wells are no longer oily so the VC gasket is working.. however oil appears to be leaking down the front of the engine as well so either those plugs or cam seal/HG. Perhaps oil is leaking onto the timing/drive belts causing splatter onto the PS hose? just speculating. My oil use has increased from 1 liter every 700 miles to 1 liter every 100 miles lol since i changed the gasket. No blue smoke while driving.

New rocker plugs are en route so i'll let you know if that fixes my leak.