Sneaky ninja oil leak
 

As stated in the caption - my Z is leaking oil somewhere....and I'm not sure where.

It's not a lot, but there are several drops on the floor after the drive. The car has the factory undertray and the oil dripping only drips on the very edge of it, causing it to end on the garage floor.

So today I went to investigate, completely sure I'd fix the issue by tightening either the oil cooler lines or something else that I screwed up....but there was nothing like that.

Instead I identified the following - the oil pan seal is oily, so I'm suspecting it's leaking oil all around.

https://i.imgur.com/Vd5SMHGh.jpeg

I took a 10mm and went around the screws, but they're all tight. I didn't want to retighten them, because I'm not sure if I'd break any of the loctite seals, so I just checked if they are tight - and they are. There was one screw that I couldn't check because it's covered by the front undercarriage (or is there a different name for it?) and I simply can't reach it.

Next to the oil pan, I noticed one oil line that I assume circulates oil around the engine - was suspiciously wet around the edges, so I added another clamp to make sure it's not leaking:

https://i.imgur.com/VrIkx2lh.jpeg


Then I looked ahead, and this part is mysteriously oily where the holes are:

https://i.imgur.com/pshUKbnh.jpeg

Not a lot, just a few drops here and there around some holes - but I can't figure out why, how and from where??

I looked around, pointed my phone camera and lighted around - all is super dry

https://i.imgur.com/yEkfbflh.jpeg


So....any ideas? I think that if it's just a leaky oil pan - it's a hassle, but not something crazy that must be fixed asap - so I'd fix it in a few weeks, as I totally have no patience to do it these days. I suspect I just drop the oil pan, thoroughly clean it, us an RTV, seal it and that's that? I'm just not sure about that one screw that's completely unreachable - do I need to unscrew half of undercarriage to reach it?

Thanks for all inputs!

Maybe a leaking rear main seal dripping on to the aluminum undercarriage, and flowing to the holes where u see the oil drops?

Try cleaning up everything as best you can, then check back in a week and try to pinpoint the leak location.

My car is MUCH more oily underneath but I can’t get myself to pull the trans to replace just the rear main seal. When I have to swap the clutch disc eventually I’ll do the rear main seal.


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Thanks for the input!
I tried to point my camera right towards the rear main seal and it seemed to me like all was dry there - but it does make most sense. Does replacing the rear main seal involve removing anything but the transmission? I think that I might be doing a major overhaul there in a year or two - like upgrading to new type of CSC, clutch and the seal. Of course, if that's the case....and I think that's not something I'd do myself.

Sneaky ninja oil leak
 

You’ll have to remove the trans, clutch, and flywheel. If you’re already upgrading the clutch, then it should be minimal additional work to replace the rear main seal.

https://youtu.be/8RF-e05s1Eg?si=DCqkyHrVaODNa1Wk

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It could be coming from the top and flowing down. Check your valve covers and other oil components op top and behind engine.

Checked those! Everything from the engine bay looks super clean and dry.

Wash engine, get it on hoist, run it, and be patient. ;)

It will show.

I wanted to update this thread. It seems like after I added that clamp on the hose, there is no additional leaks around the engine. What I think was happening, was that the hose might've been leaking just a tiny amount of oil, and with all the air rushing around, it might've been sprayed around, appearing to have come out of nowhere. Last time I removed the plastic bashguard, it was all clean.