Oil leak - oil filter adapter or transmission

Hi,

I had a leak for quite some time now. Recently I pulled the transfer case to install teralow and saw that there is no leak from the back of my manual transmission. After that I changed the rear main seal on the engine and wiped the oil pan, oil filter adapter and the clutch housing spacer (53004473) dry.
I still see a small oil stain under the front of the transmission. Now, a few weeks later I looked at everything again and here is what I saw.
The oil filter adapter is wet, the oil pan under it is wet too. Only the right half of the clutch housing spacer is wet. There are oil drops on the bottom of the spacer, on the front and on the back of the transmission and one on the bottom of the clutch slave cylinder(??). The transmission is wet to the front and below the cylinder, I really do not think the cylinder is at fault.
I checked the engine oil level and it does not seem to go down. Transmission oil level is probably 3/4" lower than it should be, but the last time I filled it was a year ago or so.

Is it possible the oil from the oil filter adapter somehow got on the other side of the transmission to the slave cylinder ?

I plan to change oil filter adapter seals the next time I change engine oil, but what about the trasmission, is it possible that the oil is coming from the front of it ? If that is the case, will it ruin my clutch and if it will, how long will it take (the clutch has 107000 miles on it).

What should I look for to understand whether this is a transmission leaking ?
How do I fix it ? Looks like the removal of the transmission is required. Does it make sense to do the clutch at the same time ?

Thank you,
Andrey

Stick a clean rag behind the valve cover, see what you get from that. You could also try snuging down the valve cover bolts a tad if any are loose.

RichP said:

Stick a clean rag behind the valve cover, see what you get from that. You could also try snuging down the valve cover bolts a tad if any are loose.

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I wiped there, there is nothing. Did you mean to put a rag and drive like that ?

Anyway, I think I'll fix the leak around the oil adapter, wipe everything around and see what I'll get. The clutch has 108000 miles on it anyway, time to retire. So if the oil kills it a bit faster, I probably do not mind.

Thank you,
Andrey

Slonopotam said:

I wiped there, there is nothing. Did you mean to put a rag and drive like that ?

Anyway, I think I'll fix the leak around the oil adapter, wipe everything around and see what I'll get. The clutch has 108000 miles on it anyway, time to retire. So if the oil kills it a bit faster, I probably do not mind.

Thank you,
Andrey

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No, not drive with it, just use it to see if any oil is back there. I also had the bolts on my front timing cover come loose, I'd loose a mystery quart every oil change. Only noticed it when I was replacing the water pump, the bolts are right behind the harmonic balancer and the balancer was the only thing holding them in..

RichP said:

No, not drive with it, just use it to see if any oil is back there. I also had the bolts on my front timing cover come loose, I'd loose a mystery quart every oil change. Only noticed it when I was replacing the water pump, the bolts are right behind the harmonic balancer and the balancer was the only thing holding them in..

Click to expand...

No, definetely not from the front of the engine - it is dry, the only leak in the front is from the steering pump.

My leaks are pretty small, probably 1/8 of a gallon from the transmission in a half a year or so.