Chasing a phantom oil leak on a 737 for two solid days

Everyone said it was the main bearing seal, I pulled the cowl and it was dry as a bone. Turns out the drain line from the IDG had a hairline crack hidden behind a zip tie bundle, took 18 hours of wiping and watching before it finally dripped in front of me. Anyone else had a leak that only shows up with the engine at a certain temp after shutdown?

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the_thea29d ago

Sounds like you found it the hard way, but that's how these gremlins work. I always do a hot shutdown and watch the suspect area with a flashlight right after the engine spins down, takes forever but it catches the temp-driven ones.