Gen 1 Oil leak...

[Doorplease]

So last year when i bought my 89' lwb montero i had an oil run through the timing belt cover. (actually when i shut the engine off it only had a few drops left.) The mechanic I bought it from was a half decent guy and took on repairing the problem. At first we thought it was the oil pan, he charged me $189 compared to the $600 everywhere else was asking due to the fact that you have to raise the engine to get the pan out, later the oil still ran and we found it was the timing belt cover that he had changed right before so he repaired it free.
Yesterday i took a run on the highway (about 20 miles) and when i got to my destination i saw that oil had pooled under my truck. I crawled underneath and it looked as if the front dif. had exploded, it was soaked in oil. The dif however was not the culprit the leak was coming from above, about drivers side, mid engine near the pan. This morning i tightened the oil pan hoping it would repair the issue, but it did not. are their any other possible culprits i may not be seeing? is there another way to change the gasket without lifting the engine
?
Cheers!

 

[Doorplease]

O, also before the leak I had been running Nextgen 50/50 oil (that recycled stuff). My last oil change, Thursday, was with Castrol conventional which I think could have had something to do with it (open for debate of course).

 

[rxinhed]

Why do people always start with 'So'?

The timing belt covers are supposed to be free of oil. If there is oil in the timing cover area, it will be from leakage of the front crankshaft seal, cam seals, distributor seal, or valve cover gaskets...and a far outside possibility would be a head gasket oil gallery leaking. Secondly, if there is oil in the timing cover, you are risking damage to the timing belt. When it breaks or slips, at least the engine is a non-interference and you won't have any bent valves or crack pistons.

 

[MontyMcV]

What Russ said. And, if it is any of those, I would not put any credance in anything the mechanic PO might have said he did to take care of the rig. Not bashing, just saying...