There's an oil slick coming out of the side of the engine, flowing down the transmission and dripping onto the ground. When I stop the car there are about 2-3 drops of oil that land on the ground, so they are just spots on the drive not a slick. The dipstick went from full to empty in 2-3 months, maybe 50 miles/week.
According to my (rather lacking in diagrams) Russek workshop manual it could be issuing forth from the cylinder head cover gasket but more likely from the oil sump gasket. I've cleaned the transmission casing as best I can and a new slick has appeared, so it's obviously still leaking.
What's the best thing to do about this? If I can cope with the drips, and regular oil topups, can it stay like this indefinitely or will it damage the engine? If it needs fixing, how urgent is it (I've been driving it for at least 3 months before noticing)? I'm a newbie so there's no chance of me fixing it myself... if I take it into a garage is it going to be something they can fix quickly or a take-the-engine-to-bits $$$ job?
Thanks Theo