very slight leak/drip - engine always dirty

[cyberpine]

87 C10 305.

I have the slightest oil leak. I cleaned the engine area, oil and transmission pans about 6 months ago - and would never notice anything on the drive way so figure all the grime I pulled off was from 20 years of use. But now 6 months later it's pretty greasy and dirty again. Both pans seem to have a drip building up.

We now have an expensive brick driveway and my wife noticed the slightest stains where I park the truck - mind you it's not a daily driver.

Under the truck I do see some build up around the flywheel. Run my finger around that seal do think it's leaking at least from there.

How much can I expect to pay to fix a leak like this?

While on the subject - I'd love a clean engine with no leaks, but have noticed that most guys old chevy trucks seem to leak something around here, and when I see pictures of other guys trucks there is always some kind of greasy buildup under the truck everywhere unless it's a show truck.
How many of you would just live with this?.. after all, it's only $10 for a nice rubber mat. If the engine and tranny are solid, what's the most common, complicated and expensive leak issue I could have with the early 80s c10?



before I cleaned up the engine over 6 months ago.. it was caked on in places:

[TheWhiteElephant]

Best case scenario is that it is your engine oil pan gasket. Worst case scenario is that it is the rear main seal. I'd replace the oil pan gasket and reassess the situation. Replace it with a good quality gasket.

I know what you mean about these engines being so leaky. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but on a daily driver with these older Chevy engines I've just come to accept it. I'm currently cleaning up over 30 years of hard baked gunk on my "new" K20 and I'm on a quest to seal it up and get rid of all the leaks--I'm replacing all the gaskets--so we'll see how it goes. I wish they were as leak-resistant as the newer LS engines, that's for sure.

I've definitely done the mat/plywood on the driveway floor, so that's what I would do for the time being. As far as the most expensive oil leak to fix, I'd say it is the rear main seal, just because it takes more labor.