98 CV, various issues

[monterey1962]

My mom's '98 CV LX w/82K miles. It was taken to the dealer for what I thought was leaking VC gaskets. Oil mess that I spotted was on the passenger side rear corner of the engine. It's enough to make a mess on the block and pan below the VC's.

This is what the dealer told my mom:

-Not the VC gaskets leaking. Might be rear main or pan gasket due to failing PCV. They added dye to the oil and said not to worry since it isn't leaving any puddles.

-Residue in the coolant. Flush recommended.

-Rear differential cover leak (which I knew about and plan on doing). They said the gear oil is black as tar.

-Front brakes are almost gone. The car brakes fine. No squeals or vibrations.

I'm going to go over this thing when I get time and see if they are being truthful. We'll see.

Curious if anyone has any input on the oil leak. Does the dealer's approach seem appropriate?

[85crownHPP]

A tiny bit of oil can look like a big mess, no drips = no worries as far as I'd be concerned. is it wet with hanging drops, moist, damp, or scummy?
You might be able to spot something while your poking around. Im sure they overstate the need for the other stuff, but hopefully its at least almost time for some attention. I can't picture 80K gear oil being that dark though.

[monterey1962]

Oil mess didn't have any drips, iirc. I replaced the starter a few weeks ago, and it seemed to be enough to look into. However, I'm terribly picky, even though it's not my car.

[Mercracer]

Check the head gasket (look where the head meets the block). They are prone to leaking oil in that vintage..

[monterey1962]

I'll check the head gasket next chance I get.

Went over the car on Saturday. Replaced the PCV. Coolant wasn't too bad. Gear oil wasn't real bad. Front brakes are getting close to needing replacement.

[gadget73]

I've never seen gear oil with any mileage that wasn't dark and stinky. Unless it looks like metallic paint, I pay no mind to it.

Brakes are easy on these, just make sure you lube the slide pins. Replace the boots if they are torn. The boots might only come with a set of pins though, not sure.

[Merc3517]

Clean all the oil you can find off the engine the best you can. This way you can keep an eye on it, check it all out everyday if you can and then you should be able to see where it is coming from. Flushing the coolant system is fairly easy and if I can find all the interesting information I read once about coolants I will post it and hopefully it will be stickied.