Has anyone in magna world had a similar problem to mine? I own a 96 TS 3litre Magna with auto trans. Coming home from a trip, a massive oil leak developed from between motor and trans. Stopped and checked engine oil and was low by about 1.5 litres, usually spot on. Assumed engine oil seal failure. Removed trans and nothing looked suspicious. Trans oil was same colour as engine oil which added to confusion and smelling had no results either. I think maybe the large "o" ring inside bellhousing.

Lol. Could be from one of the heads/headgasket, as it pools in the engine valley and has only one place to go - over the trans, and drip down from there. Have a look at the engine valley to see if it is full of oil. I had this problem, 1995 TS V6 auto, turned out to be the "O" ring on the distributor housing that had been leaking for a long time. Distributor sits in an alloy housing which is bolted to the head. The "O" ring sits between the housing and the head.

Thank MadMax, but this was a massive oil leak. In fact it was the smell of burning oil on the exhaust that alerted me. I pulled over and looked under the car with the motor running and oil was running out from the engine/trans join as if being poured from a bucket. I suspected the rear main seal either popping out or a piece of seal broken away. When I removed the engine/trans and separated them there was not much oil around anything. Everything looked pretty clean even behind the torque converter. This threw me right out. I removed the main seal and it looked serviceable, even tension was good on the shaft. Stuff it. I just replaced the main oil seal and hoped for the best and so far all is well. Must have been the seal! Weird!!

If the leak comes back:

Check the back of the engine for leaks from the rocker gasket.
Also, is there oil on the TOP of the gearbox? Can't be from the crank seal if there is.
When my distributor "O" ring went, it showed up as a massive leak too, I figure the valley filled up with oil over time and a few corners made it pour out as though it was a sudden massive leak.
Easy to check though, use a torch and shine it past the intake manifold and look for pooled oil, it should be totally dry in there.

Yes MadMax I did check the valley and it was dead dry. In fact the motor was clean all over. No leaks around dissy or anywhere else. Nothing makes sense but at the moment NO LEAKS.

Yes MadMax I did check the valley and it was dead dry. In fact the motor was clean all over. No leaks around dissy or anywhere else. Nothing makes sense but at the moment NO LEAKS.

Excellent! I hope it stays that way! Could be pressure build up in the engine, have you cleaned out the PCV hoses and valve? A build up of crankcase pressure can be the cause of seals popping out, or oil leaks past them. Do a search if you have NFI what I'm on about. lol or ask here.

In short what Max is saying, the rocker covers have a breather system in both rocker covers, this gets blocked, sitting at idle will not generalyl cause any build up of pressure but driving the car will and especially a long trip as well. While the seals my not pop out, the oil will push past them as they are the weak point in the system

You need to remove your rocker covers, give them both a good clean out behind the baffles, also remover your PCV and then clean out the lower manifold and make sure that hte pcv tract is clear. This should help a lot

Madmagna, you make sense. I did blow through the PVC valve to check for blockage and the was no resistance. But what you and MadMax both say is an excellent direction, so i will clean the PVC filter in the rocker cover and reduce engine back pressure.

Check the hose from the rear rocker cover to the intake duct, seeing your leak is at the back of the engine, this breather hose may be blocked.

I did check both breather hoses for full or partial blockages and the PCV valve. There was some restriction in the front system, didn't think it was enough to cause dramas, but....
Still no oil leaks but I did remove the PCV valve and cleaned the crap out of it and replaced the hose. When I get a moment I'll remove the rocker covers and decrap them.