I'm trying to identify an oil leak.
I took some pictures, it may actually be multiple leaks as they are seemingly on both sides of the engine.

Hope someone here can point me to suspects.

 

Clean it up nice and shiny with brake cleaner... Start car, look for leaks... Repeat until you have identified the sources.

 

The heavy duty engine cleaner/degreaser gel works pretty well, but maybe not as well as two cans of the cheap stuff at Walmart. Brake cleaner is good but IMO not efficient if you need to move a lot of material. Great once you have the bulky stuff off.
Steam is also worth trying, a garment steamer off CL or from a thrift store.

 

Unfortunately, this is an adoption-candidate. I can't clean it since I don't own it. I am hoping someone can tell me if this looks like a catastrophic/expensive repair, although I recognize that that may be impossible to tell from these pictures.

 

Naw, that's just seepage. Means that gaskets and seals should be renewed, but not critical to the life of the engine. ... yet!

 

It's probably just the AOS seals on one side, and the seals on the distributor housing on the other. There aren't any leaks on these engines that mean anything other than seals or gaskets need to be changed. But you'll find it's foolish to ignore other things while you have it apart to take care of these, however. When taking care of the leak at the front it should be part of a 'front engine reseal' with water pump, belts, and rollers exchange. For the AOS seals, I'd also replace all the hoses under the intake since that has to come off, and I'd install a fresh set of speed and reference sensors unless you know they were changed within the last few years. Oh, can't forget about the heater control valve too! You'll not have a better opportunity then when everything else is apart.

I know this sounds like a lot, but the goal for me is always as-new reliability, and these cars are definitely not.

 

We can play best case- worst case:

On the passenger side above the manifold- best case a cam tower seal leak. Easy to replace. Worst case a cylinder head gasket leak. Not hard, but harder than cam tower seal. Lots of documentation on both.

driver side lower- best case AOS seals, worst case upper balance shaft seals leak. Both require removing the intake manifold. Neither particularly difficult, lots of documentation on both.

Leak hunting on an old 944 is not a co-ed intramural sport! But it will make you wiser, perhaps poorer. But none of the above scenarios are catastrophic. There are people who drive leaking 944s happily for thousands of miles, adding oil as they go. Ask me how I know!

 

Perhaps I should've added that I also spotted a bit of 'mayo' at the bottom of the oil filler tube. Very little, but it was there. Would this indicate head gasket blow? I didn't check for blue smoke.

 

Evaluate the extent of the leakage by measuring the oil level with the dipstick at frequent intervals. Is the leakage spraying/dripping on the bell housing, starter motor, torque tube or the exhaust header? Is it minor or excessive or annoying? Are there engine issues affected by the leakage? Some are easy to replace the seals, others take removing multiple parts to get to the leaky seals.

Getting a bottom looking view by safely putting the car on jackstands can give another perspective of the extent of the leaks.

 

Cars run very infrequently can develop "a bit" of mayo from condensation (particularly in more humid climates).

Only a compression or leak-down test will tell you for sure.

 

Thanks for all the tips! I think I'll keep on looking. :-) (And keep this thread as a future ref)