I have a small oil leak on the right rear side of my 454.Valve cover,intake manifold,rear seal and oil pan are good.I just see oil on the bolts that hold the starter on and I can't figure out where it is coming from,leaves spots on the garage floor,what else could cause this?:confused: Thanks

I would be willing to bet the rear main seal is weeping

I had stainless steel oil galley plugs that leaked oil that would end up in the same area so check that out too.

A leaking main seal doesnt generally get oil up into the starter/starter bolt area,thats more generally v-cover/rear of intake and wind can also push oil back from the oil galley plugs/fuel pump too so RE-CHECK those areas again.

Main seal leaks generall shw up lower towards the bottom of the trans/bellhosuin dust cover.

I tried re-seal the S/S oil galley plugs with no success,i had to reinstall/seal the stock cast iron plugs which fixed the oil galley plug leaks on the 1ist try. SS is very hard hard materail thats difficult to seal esp in some applications like this along with fuel and brake lines too at times.i will never use ss galley plugs again.

Is oil leaking from any of the oil pan bolts and being blown back when driving the car?

But if after rechecking everything you still suspect the main seal get the motor hot,then jack up car/use jack stands too .Then get under the car,remove the trans dust cover or loosen enough to see in with a strong flashlight with motor running to see if you can spot any oil comming out ofmain seal area of rear of oilpan when its running. I would also step the idle up to approx 1500rpms or so when doing this to ensure there is enough oil being thrown arround when you check the the main seal/rear of oil pan seal to increase chances of leaking when you check it out.

Let us know what you find.

Scott

Just had the flywheel out and rear seal,valve covers and rear of intake are dry as a bone.Where are the galley plugs at behind the fywheel?

There are oil galley plugs behind the block but you said its dry back there when you just looke with flywheel off so there are also approx 4-5 small oil gally plugs allong/just above where the oil pan seats/seals on the block and thats where i am talking about.

They are screwed right into the block,you cant miss them if you look just above where the oil pan meets the block on both sides of the motor.

Chk fuel pump to block gasket/seal & timing cover to block & oil pan sealing areas along with crank seal too. I suggest that becasue oil can be blown back from a lot of places by wind when car is up to speed on the road so keep that in mind.

Scott