So my newly acquired 04 6spd..... its got a minor leak. I am so anal about oil leaks and leaving stains and what not. I figure it was just a valve cover gasket since thats one of the issues.
As I dig more into it the more I find. Its so evenly spread out that I think its rear main seal, oil pump, P/S and much more. Is it a pain in the ass to do all those in the car? Im considering just picking up a spare low mileage J32a3 and doing all that outside the car and just swapping it in.

The PS pump is loud when I first start up, and I see bubbles in the reservoir, but it all goes away and quiet down once it warms up.

Any thoughts as to what else I should do while Im at it?

 

Well, for starters, if you want to isolate the leak(s) you could clean the engine real good with engine cleaner and rags. Leave all the plastic covers off. Drive it a bit and look for leaks. I have 125k on my 08 with no leaks yet so hard to guess where yours is. PS pump can be rebuilt for cheap if you want to buy a seal kit. I would also replace the O rings to the pump hoses. As for engine swap...why? Besides the leaks is there something else wrong with the old engine?

 

there isn’t any leaks on the pump itself, just by the resevior, I’m just thinking worst case scenario, it’s easier for me to work on an engine outside the car than to work on it while it’s in the car, looks to be a pain. I can swap an engine within a day vs having to drop the tranny to do rear main seal, oil pump seal, etc etc.