Oil drip off of starter

[Norris McCarty]

I have one slight oil leak on my flathead....just a few small drops of motor oil coming from the tip of my starter. It’s not coming from above the starter. I first thought it was coming from the dipstick tube, but it’s not.
Any ideas before I pull the starter? The bottom of the bellhousing is as dry as a bone, so I don’t think the flywheel is slinging oil from the rear main seal.
Thanks

 

[Norris McCarty]

I think I figured it out.
Before I installed a pcv valve I did have a small bit of oil coming out of the dipstick tube around the dipstick after hard highway runs. I was constantly wiping residual oil off of the oil pan. Since the pcv install that has stopped. I’m guessing the starter case has a bit of that residual oil still in it.
I’ll give it a few day and see.
Sorry to bother!

 

[51 MERC-CT]

Just wondering, why does the dipstick appear to be on the opposite side from where it is normally seen?

 

[Norris McCarty]

Its on the right(passenger) side. It’s a truck pan with a clean out. I didn’t know that it’s on the opposite side from normal......interesting

 

[51 MERC-CT]

Its on the right(passenger) side. It’s a truck pan with a clean out. I didn’t know that it’s on the opposite side from normal......interesting

This is normal.
Would be interesting to see if someone for some reason moved the dipstick to passenger side. You can see that it has been bolted in place, whereas the original would have been riveted.