'83 Riviera

Yes. I know it is an old car
120000 mi, 8 cyl olds 307

My dad and I are having fun with "find the new oil leak"

We recently acquired this car and it is my "fixer-upper"

The only documented problem was a small oil leak from the valve cover gasket. It took a week to fix.

We have concluded that the gasket is now fine, but have found a new leak. We think it is coming from the gasket that mates the exhaust manifold with the engine block (o Joy!). However, we cannot see this leak, we can only surmise the little spot of oil is dripping from here. (It is pooling on the right side of the engine about 8 in. Below the rear-most spark plug on the exhaust manifold).


I that happens to be the true location of the leak, is it possible if a small fire (from previous leak) that lasted about a minute could have partially melted the gasket enough to allow a leak?