Which oil leak is this?
 

On my 2001 2.7T, I have a drip coming off the bottom of the plastic front engine cover, right (passenger) side, where it goes under the cam pulley. Is that the front camshaft seal, or could it be valve cover (again)? It's making a mark on the undertray, but isn't enough to drip on the garage floor. Car's now at 115k; timing belt and seals were done at 67k/ Aug. 2009; right valve cover gasket and cam adjuster seals in Dec. 2013/23 k.

The drip is running down the coolant hose under there and getting on to several other things. Any chance it's affecting the alternator? I've noticed a quirk where the voltage rises slowly when starting warm, but not immediately--an hour later, say. It recovers after maybe 20-30 sec or if I rev the engine a bit. Behavior is normal on a cold start or an immediate warm restart. So my theory is that the oil drip after running the car might be contaminating the brushes/slip ring in the alternator.

Thanks!

Just for the benefit of future searchers, it appears to be the front cam seals. I definitely have a small leak into the CPS, and when I remove that there's a trail from the seal to the bottom of the housing area. I also pulled the cam cover (upper part of the front engine cover over the exhaust cam) and it's gummy in there. No oil trail, but the seal may be a little wet. It's possible the intake cam seal is leaking down the back and it's getting all over, but it's probably time for both seals. Sigh--the exhaust one is 80% of a timing belt.

With the tires almost done, the dash display at about 20% (doesn't bother me, but drives my wife crazy), a recurrent EGT code, a possible tranny issue (see my other post) and a few other issues, it may be the end. I love the car, but "others" are observing that the issues are piling up, and fear the car is unreliable. Assuming $0 on the tranny, and an EGT resolder (if I can ever get it out of there--failed once), we're still at nearly $1000 for the parts and tires--a tough counter-argument.

Man, I am exactly in the same boat. I got a broken spring, axle boots shot and the so-called "others" are suggesting to part with it and buy another. But, without a good 15k+, it's impossible to get in a ride like mine -not to mention the inheritance of issues with the would-be"pre-owned".

Agree. I've been occasionally shopping ever since a left-me-sit event a year ago last winter, and I've driven some nice cars. But every time I was glad to get back in the A6 afterward. A B8.5 A4 (with sport seats) comes close, but with xenons, B&O, etc. it's more like $20k+. I won't do a B8--at least with the 2.7T I know my missing oil has come out the top or ends!

If you get to the axle boots quickly, they're cheap and not too bad. Otherwise axles--quicker but more expensive. Haven't done a spring yet. But it's a problem that's fixed when it's fixed. Also, probably need to fix to sell it, or to sell to someone like us that will only complain about the parts cost.