Recently bought a used 99 coupe. Car has about 46K miles on it. After a few weeks of driving, I noticed a small oil leak occasionally dripping on my exhaust manifold. I have been under the car to try to determine origin, but access is very limited. Appears to be coming from the mating surfaces of valve cover(?) to cylinder, but could be coming from another area above and just draining down that seam until it finally drips on my exhaust. Any probable causes...please tell me this is not a major ($$$$$) fix. Thanks.

 

Sounds like it's a cam seal leak. This is a pretty frequent leak on the 996. I'm not sure how much it costs to fix since mine was fixed under warranty. I know they can fix it without removing the engine from the car though.

 

Mine was fixed under warranty and I was told the engine was removed. I believe the engine out was to ensure location of leak rather than to gain access to fix the leak.

 

Which side front or rear of engine?

 

I'm sorry, but I can't remember whether my leak was on the front or rear of the engine...