Wet/grease near lower rad hose???

[08hybridok]

So trying to troubleshoot my battery cable issue; I noticed a wet area where the lower radiator hose goes into the block. And even a little over to the cranckcase pully. I cant tell if its oil/greasy or antifreeze (couldn't get my hand over to touch it) but it looks black; but so does everything on the bottom of the engine.

Is it something common? Serious? Its a college driver right now so not to serious about sinking to much money into it if I don't have too.

 

[Doofy]

Hard to tell without touching or smelling. With dust and dirt cakeing everything, still hard to tell sometimes. Is it old or fresh? Also, some very informative YouTube videos on this subject.

 

[Rearanger]

Could be crank seal. When that goes it will splash oil onto the crank pulley. Other point down there is front cover where it connects to the oil pan. Maybe even pan seal under crankshaft.

 

[adsm08]

3.0 is usually good for oil pan leaks. What the OP described is how they start. What Rearanger described is how they end up.

 

[Rearanger]

If the leak is only at the oil pan where it curves under the crank you may be able to stop it (for now) with some RTV.

Use cue tips and acetone to clean that area of oil up to the bottom of the front cover. Needs to be extremely clean. Then squeeze in some RTV in there and work it in against the pan seal. Let dry 24 hours and see if that helps.

If it's coming from front crank seal then replacement is only option.

 

[Curious Hound]

I got a good view of the front end of my pan seal the other day. It is completely out at the upper part of the curve. But no signs of major leakage. I mean, yeah, everything down there is dirty/oily. But my oil level stays the same and there are no drips. I guess if it starts leaking there, I'll just drive up-hill all the time until I can fix it.