There is the oil pump housing and crank seal or the dipstick aperture seal, the sump face, oil filter, oil cooler or higher up cam seals

 

I found this picture online and modified it to show where it's dripping from.

The oil it initially dripping off this nut, but I don't know if it's coming from behind that nut, or if it's coming from further up the engine and running down to this nut.

EDIT: Looking at it's location, it looks likely to be the oil pump/gasket/seal?

 

I had a bad oil leak coming from mine, had sprayed the whole underside of the car. Was coming from on of the top pipes above the oil filter.

 

Yeh I thought that might of been a possibility, so I checked around there and the filter to make sure it was on secure enough.

I've had another look and it seems it's not coming from the nut I pointed out in the picture above. It's coming from around the bottom bolt on the alloy cover that goes over the timing belt. I can see a bit of the belt and there's no oil on it, so I suspect the seal around the cog on the oil pump has gone, and it's leaking out and dripping down. Won't know for certain where it's coming from until I get the engine mount off, aux belt and the timing belt covers.

 

Well mine was only very slight until I took it out for a good run on a country road, then when the pressure was up and the oil thined out it became blatently obvious it was coming from the top of the filter, although it sprayed it above. I say it came from those pipes and tightened them up, but upon reflextion it may have been coming from the seal at the top of the filter as I replaced that as well as you do. Either way no more leaks.

 

Here's a video of mine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvi4xmA97nE

 

Looks a bit clear to be engine oil, even if you have just changed it. I'm not sure where your power steering pump is located, but I'd be thinking of looking for it. May just be the angle of light shining on it and may be completely wrong, but as nobody else seems to be putting there penny's worth on here....

 

The power steering pump is at the top of the engine towards the front. I don't think it's that anyway as I've not filled the power steering bottle up since I put the new engine in.

I actually wonder if it's oil/water leaking from the head? Hence the reason it being so thin?

 

I've never owned a V6, but looking at the picture, the bottom wheel looks to be favourite (since the other three appear to be pulleys that don't pass through into the engine). You should be able to test this as follows...

Let the engine stand for several minutes.
Start the engine and wait for the drip to start - if it's quick then the leak is nearby. Similarly, see how long it takes for the drip to stop when you turn the engine off.

If you have a pipette (or something similar, a syringe maybe) you could try creating a stream of oil on something like a window and see how quickly it travels. That might give you a better idea of the distance it has travelled.

 

From what I gather the heads do take some punishment, and rarely do they go, although not unheard of. Also, for the oil and water to mix and leak to the OUTSIDE of the engine seems very unlikely. Catch a bit of the oil and compare it the engine oil to see if it has any simularity. I will check on mine later when I get chance and see what else could be possibly leaking in that area. Does seem very thin and clear for engine oil, brake fluid is red obviously, but steering fluid comes in all different viscotity and colours it seems, hence why I though that.

I've not had mine for long, so getting to grips with the engine myself, hopefully somebody on here may shed a brighter light on it, as there is some experise about if they can be bothered to look at the post and respond.

 

The biggest problem with the leak as well, is that to diagnose it I have to take off the engine mounting, the crank pulley, aux belt and the cover over the timing belt to see that side of the engine. Gonna be at least a 2 hour job just to figure out what the problem is.

 

Well looking at the pic above, there is a sheild that sits around the bottom of the cambelt, which it's lowest point is just above that nut, so it could very well be following that down to the tip, then trickling to the nut before dripping off, so you may end up still being at a loss. I for one will be very interested to see what it is in the end. I take it the car is in use? Just the filler bottle for the steering fluid wont drop unless your turning the wheels unless the leak was closer to the bottle instead of the other side of the pump will it??

 

I've had a talk with a few people on another message board, and they think it's water and most likely a water pump issue. That doesn't help as it's still a pig of a job.

Because I've just fitted the engine, I filled it with water only, hence the reason the water might be that colour.

I'm going to have another look when I get home and see if I can determine if it's water or oil.

 

ok, I've got home and had another look. I've collected what was dripped and it's definitely oil, however it's a cream colour.

What's even more worrying is that the end of the dipstick is also a creamy colour and I'm losing a **** load of water from the bottle. It used a full bottle in a 5 minute run on the drive!!!

I'm no mechanic, but this to me indicated there's oil mixing with water and then escaping from the side of the head?

Or could there be another explanation?

Here's a video of what's leaking out of the engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keCwZmGVGeE

 

oil leak

maybe from the camshaft end caps

my old mk2 180 used to leak there , easy to fix

 

maybe the head gaskets gone and over pressuring the system and coming out the hole under the water pump?????
maybe just gone just between a water and oil port???

 

I had read that it's unusual for a HG to leak outside the engine, so maybe you're right. The HG has gone but it's leaking out from around the water/oil pump.