Oil leak help/suggestions?

[bpoteat]

Went out to the garage yesterday and noticed a small puddle of oil under the car and the place where it's leaking, on the passenger side, is immediately obvious. The fix, however, doesn't seem as obvious to me. I'm not sure what this is called, but it's coming from this plug.

If I clean it up, it looks to actually be seeping through the plug (like dead center where the middle arrow is pointing), not around it or from another place nearby. There is a good bit of rust around the hardware so I wouldn't be surprised at some rust/corrosion causing it but not sure how to address it.
Any opinions, suggestions, advice?

Edited February 27, 2019 by bpoteat
Incorrect link

[DBJoe996]

Not quite sure...but I think that is just a plug (called a lid) on the cylinder head.  Could be #48 here or #41

M96.01/02/04 Cylinder Head -01

WWW.AUTOATLANTA.COM

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I would clean that up real well and see if it is weeping around the edge.  I would also measure it because what I provided in the link says it is 18mm or it could be the 10mm.  Then you have two choices, pop it out and replace, or pack that whole thing full of heat/oil resistant RTV gasket sealer.

Edited February 27, 2019 by DBJoe996

[bpoteat]

Thanks.

Yeah, after spending a ton of time comparing my leak to the autoatlanta diagrams, I'm certain it's that 18mm lid. I got some other suggestions on rennlist. I don't plan on filling it with sealer so at a minimum I'm going to go ahead and order/replace all the lids since they are all of similar condition.

[Hiroki]

In my case, it caused by power steering oil leaking. At that time,I repaired the piping.
Please check the power steering oil level.


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[LLarson]

This is the low point on this part of the engine.  My leak came from much higher (typical problem), the AOS (air/oil separator).  The AOS has a rubber, flexible coupling the was not installed properly.  The AOS needed to be replaced, a truly miserable experience . . . but doable.

[bpoteat]

As a follow-up, it really ended up being as simple as what was mentioned earlier: the expansion plug had just corroded and had a miniscule hole weeping at the dead center. I drilled a small hole, put a screw in it and pulled it out. Just used a socket to push it back up in there (which wasn't as easy as I thought it would be but not terribly difficult either...had to knock it in there with pretty good force).

 

FWIW, on a semi-related note, I actually had another leak later coming from up top and, after being terrified of something awful, it ended up that the oil sender/sensor had come unscrewed just a little and didn't have the washer on it. ?