Just get some Gunk Spray Engine degreaser and clean your own engine.
Take the car to a $1.00 car wash, spray down the tip of the engine.
Take a nice big piece of cardboard with you and lay under the van and spray
the bottom side of the engine.
It might take several cans of the Spray Engine Cleaner so buy about 4 cans.
After you let the cleaner soak for about 10 minutes blast it off with hot
water.
After this you should be able to make some short runs and find where the oil
is coming from.

Stan Wilder
Engine Ceramics
214-352-4931
www.engineceramics.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "BA" <ande@SAN.RR.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2005 10:56 PM
Subject: Film of oil all over back hatch

Hi, all,

This was discussed once (as far as I could find) in the archive, last
August.  The sole response to the described problem was "look under
the engine ... if it's sufficient to put an oily film on your back
hatch, the cause will be obvious".

Except ... it's not obvious!  Not to us, nor to the VW repair shop
where we take our Vanagon.  And the repair shop has so far not steered
us wrong. (Our shop-supplied engine has not yet done 10,000 miles. And
it isn't a re-conditioned engine ... it's a new VW engine.)

The best suggestion the repair shop could offer was that we'd been on
newly-oiled roads.  That just doesn't fit.

So I wonder ... has anyone else had this happen, and if so what were
the suggestions and (hopefully) fix for the problem?

Just to make the question more interesting, we're off to San Felipe,
Baja Norte, Mexico, next weekend - filmy hatch or not!!!  I (the more
adventure-conservative of us two) have decided that if I'm in an older
vehicle that needs attention, I'd rather have that happen in Baja than
in the US.  Those folx know how to cherish good, old vehicles!

B&S
'87 Westy 'Esmerelda Blanc'
SoCal