hate to waste a thread but have been searching for hours for a similar situation.
didn't think much of this buildup of oil in that area although i think it is odd. didn't notice how much oil there was until parking nose up. whatever pooled onto the lower dish is spilling over a bit when the car is off and hitting the concrete so bad enough i would like to fix it.
i have tried washing things off twice and running it for a bit cold and i can see blowby smoke buildup in that area within a minute of a cold start but still cannot pinpoint where its coming from!
the top of the engine actually looks dry past the head gasket level and injection pump is resealed. the buildup is pure black oil. its non turbo engine right now so NO oil cooler.
there is also some sludge on the water pipe connections toward filter side and on the lower side of the lower radiator hose.
since this started i actually blindly changed some things and the same still happens. i put a new radiator in because it was older and mistreated and had hot spots i think. replaced the oil cooler mount with a new gasket after scraping surfaces because i wanted to take the turbo assembly off and added one with no gage sensors. also a new filter.
can't see a drop anywhere on the dipstick and i don't get blowby out the dipstick. also have the block off plate t'd into intake and valve cover.
so if i am seeing blowby before the oil stream do i assume pinhole leak somewhere?
just curious if anybody has experienced something like this. perhaps this is a perfect situation to try one of those uv dye leak detector kits? any opinion on if they work and what brands to try?
?oil cooler mount? the gasket leaking?
rtv w/new gasket if thats the leak
?maybe by scrapping off gasket surface you scrapped of the ridges that helps seal the assembly?