2006 S with 45,000 miles. Recently had power steering leak fixed. Now have a dime-sized oil leak that drips almost dead center below the engine when the car is parked level. I will likely replace the valve cover gasket and see if that fixes it. If not, is there a most likely candidate for that location (assuming it's not the drain plug) or is it the usual...could be various things given they'll all run down to that location to drip?

Thanks for any guidance!
Greg

 

Could be your crank sensor o-ring/gasket, pretty common for these to leak.

 

Also oil pan gaskets are known to "weep" mine has been doing it for a long time its just not serious enough or top priority on my list right now.

 

Don't replace the valve cover gasket until you determine that it's the culprit. You'll need to remove the plastic lower pan and clean up whatever oil you find, then, over a few days' use, observe where it's coming from.

 

+1 on what TrackRat stated You need to try to determine where the leak is coming from before replacing parts. My guess would be the crankshaft position sensor.

When my car was under warranty I had a small oil leak. The dealer replaced the oil pan gasket. That did not solve the leak. I do not think the dealer even tried to determine where the leak was coming from, they just assumed oil pan gasket. I later figured out the leak was coming from the crank position sensor and I replaced the o-ring to eliminate the leak.

 

As others have said replace the crank position "o" ring first. It's cheap, easy to do, and a very good chance this is the problem. Do a search and you will see some good write ups on doing this using a rachet strap so you do not have to put your car in service mode. Motoring alliance has a good write up under "Crank sensor seal replacement"
Steve

 

Thanks all for the replies! I will let you know what I find out eventually as it seems to be a very slow leak.

Greg

 

I had my oil pan gasket changed 4 time by the dealer before they finally wised up and checked the o-ring people are referring to....