Re: gear oil leaking and burning

Could be the front seal on the tranny. I have that problem on my '82 right now. Oil level doesn't go down fast - a real slow leak. On mine to replace the front seal you need to take the tranny apart. Now sure about yours.

Another possibility would be the rear main engine seal. I always change those when I replace a clutch.

If you search this newsgroup with e.g. google you'll find quite a few reports of oil leaks/burning.

I had the same symptons and it turned out to be a leaking crankshaft seal (which several other people reported problems with).

In this case oil drips from the timing belt cover, blows back onto the engine and burns when it gets to the hot exhaust pipes.

Symptons were most apparent when stopped at traffic lights after driving on the highway.

The shop I took my car too screwed up the initial diagnosis (they said it was the drain plug) because the crankshaft seal wasn't leaking at low speeds.