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I've had a small oil leak on the front of the engine for 5+ years and was fairly sure it was the VTC strainer, but just never got motivated to replace it. Finally found a reason as I had to replace the A/C compressor and decided to do all the other accessories at the same time. That opened up the room to swap it out and it's a 60 second task once you get the power steering pump and tensioner out of the way. The old gasket was hard as a rock.
Thanks for posting up. Another place to watch for leaks. If I had seen this a while sooner I would have done same as you while working on the AC compressor.