Did an oil change today (120K miles) and noticed this leak. Would I be right in suspecting the crankshaft seal?

If so, is this is quite an expensive job and would it be worth doing the clutch at the same time?

Cambelt and water pump were renewed when I bought the car in Jan 2019 (97K miles).

Thanks for any input.

Clean it all up, make sure your crankcase ventilation system is in excellent condition and then monitor over the coming weeks. It may well be a symptom of a blocked breather pipe, which may disappear if that's resolved. 

Unless the clutch has ever been done in the first 120k it will almost certainly make sense to change it if you do end up pulling the gearbox to do the seal. 

Could also be gearbox oil rather than engine oil, but does look blacker like engine oil.

In the scheme of things it is (currently) a very minor leak, it only looks bad because these engines are normally clean enough to eat your dinner from.

 

I would not be overly concerned unless it gets increasingly worse.

 

Good call regarding a blocked breather.

Thanks both,

I'll clean it up tomorrow.

Any pointers on how to check the vent system? I don't know where to begin.

Thanks again.

I’ve had the same issue my mechanic has just taken the gearbox out to sort the leak as apparently it’s behind the clutch so I’ve been told ! Mine was caused by putting on a cheaper PCV valve and had to buy a genuine 1 again anyways 

Well I've spent some time messing about, getting oily.

I got a better look at the engine and there's quite a bit of oil coming down from the rocker cover seal. This could be making it's way down to the bottom, or the bottom oil might be from the main crankshaft seal. I don't know. There's also oil on the pipe at top right - but I think that's coming from above too.

 

I've cleaned up the engine case so when I look again if there's a leak it might be more obvious where it's coming from.

 

 

I took off the EGR and throttle valve and gave it a really good clean. By sucking hard on the top tube the plunger lifts, so I guess it's ok.

 

 

 

There doesn't appear to be a replaceable PCV valve. It seems to be part of the rocker cover, which I'm not overly keen on removing. When the engine is running I can feel a slight puffing from the breather pipe so I guess that's also ok.

 

Does the egr/throttle valve look bad enough to cause excessive crankcase pressure? I haven't had any warning lights.