this crud = exhuast mani gasket leak? or.. what?

[Korndogg]

hey all
yet another question of mine of the day.
this crud has been on my engine since i bought it maybe 10k miles ago, but i just pulled the heat shields off today and got a great view of it.. i'm thinking this is from a leaky manifold gasket? the crud goes down really far though..
let me know what you think..
note: the crud is not normally so wet.. i was spraying liquid wrench around..
1st pic shows above/left of the manifold the normal consistency of the crud
2nd pic does a great job to show how far down the crud goes (below the turbo, weird)
3rd pic attempts to show how it looks as if it could easily be coming from the far left of the manifold. this and the 1st pic also shows that it doesn't appear (to me at least) to be the valve cover gasket.. there's a smidge of moisture from that seam, but it's consistent the whole length of the block and this crud is only on the left

let me know if you want more pics or anything
thanks guys

 

[oldman]

They look like valve cover oil leak buildup to me.

 

[trevor_shiggs]

I have the same crud all over my bottom radiator hose and tranny. Mine has been on my ar since i bought it too. I was thinking coolant but i donno if coolant would get like that.

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

That's called oil and dirt/dust buildup. New valve cover gasket job was due LONG TIME AGO!!!

 

[Tallen]

Yes you need a new valve cover gasket. Purple power degreaser to the rescue!

 

[Korndogg]

i was thinking maybe it was the valve cover gasket and it was fixed before i bought the car, but no one ever cleaned the shit off the engine? cause it hasn't changed at all since i bought the car *shrug*

so what is this purple power degreaser? never heard of it.. found it on google.. just spray, sit, and rinse? or how does it work

thanks guys