Quote: I pretty much the same set up as the op, I had a rear oil leak and thought at first it was the rear seal, it was dry also, so I looked at the gasket and pan rail, both were good, then I noticed 2 marks on the inside of the pan where the rear main bearing girdle retaining studs were hitting the pan. Smacked the two marks with a ball peen hammer a few times and replaced the pan using the same gasket [ blue Moroso from AutoZone ] No leaks. Just my experience. you might want to look at your pan inside.
I trimmed the studs down on the couple engines I did with studs .
