So this morning I noticed a few drops of oil under my car, which I hadn't noticed before. Not worrying about it just then, as I was needing to get to work, I hopped in the car and drove in. Stopping at the bank on my way in, I looked under the hood, and the glow plug closest to the firewall ('79 300TD, non-turbo I5) is coated in oil and there is enough oil dripping out to smoke and stink. Not wanting to deal with it in the bank parking lot, I jumped back in the car and continued to work, figuring I'd look at it more closely when I got here.
Unfortunately, I forgot and shut the motor off, so I'm not sure where the oil is coming from just now.
Is it possible that the oil is somehow coming /through/ the glowplug out of the cylinder? It really looked like that with my brief initial inspection. Typically I'd think that there's a leak in my valve cover gasket (good excuse to check the valves, at least), but it really looked like it was somehow coming through the glow plug. Any good tips for me to keep in mind when I go to look at it this weekend?
I also happened to check the transmission fluid level while in the bank parking lot, and noticed it's really low. What kind of tranny fluid do folks put into their cars? ...a fluid and filter change for the transmission is already on my list for the near-term.
thanks,
-tom!