Can oil leak from the back of the engine?

[Svart]

So I changed my oil not to long ago and I think I tightened the filter housing too much so there seems to be a small leak from where the drain valve is. However I took my car to my local mechanic to have my motor mount changed (it was damaged) and there was a lot of oil in the pan directly under the tranny (the tranny is not leaking) and my mechanic said it seems the oil is coming from behind the engine somewhere. I know for a fact that my filter housing has a small leak, but what could be leaking from directly behind the engine? I should point out my DV is most likely cracked as I am loosing boost and will have this changed as well, but I don't think this should anything to do with oil leaking from behind the engine.

[Danne_gg]

Actually back of my engine and top of the gearbox got oil all over it... 2.0T manual gearbox and quattro... Can take a pic later if wanted... Dunno what's causing it thou..

[Svart]

I stuck my hand back there and there is definetely oil. However it is too hard to see anything. The most oil seems to be on the coil pack wire harness. It looks like it's driping down over the tranny and down to the belly pan. Ugghhhhh only 45,000 miles and I have to deal with this shit. Anyone know what it could be? It seems to have happened after my last oil change about a month ago. Changed the oil myself as always.

[CBRmatt600]

Check PCV and valve cover gasket. My PCV went out and according to the dealer, the "baffle" under the valve cover blew out which was spewing oil out of the back of the motor towards the firewall.

[bullomar]

can it be related to a bad rubber seal on a camshaft....
I have the same issue with mine audi and It seems like it leaks around camshaft..back of the camshaft area :)

http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG01686-20110601-1318.jpg

[baldy]

Mine was doing the same thing. Vacuum pump was replaced and no more leaks.

[XCELR8]

There's a camshaft chain cover on the back of the engine which houses the cam chain tensioner and some type of oil pick-up tube. I only know cause my oil pick-up tube that lubes the chain got clogged and they replaced the entire cover. I bet the gasket for that cover is causing the leak.

[CorneliusRox]

Not 100% familiar with these engines yet, but for engines in general, it could be a rear main gasket going.

[SkunkCityRats]

Rear main seal, camshaft seal, oil pan gasket.. must be a common area, when I had mine up on the lift yesterday I noticed oil on the passenger side bottom of the transmission pan... was definitely coming from the engine but didn't have the time to track it down