Oil gunk on left side of engine bay

The left (drivers) side of my engine bay has ridiculous amounts of oil gunk. What could be some of the reasons. My suspicions are:

1. Leaky valve cover gasket (or whatever the gasket that seals the cylinder cover to the engine block, arrow 1 in the picture)
2. Every time I change the oil filter, some old oil is retained in the little apron below the filter. That could spray around when the vehicle is in motion and leave mess.

 

There is a rubber cap on a nipple at the bottom of the housing that allows you to drain that oil.

 

Drain it into a bottle

 

Just use an empty water bottle to catch the remaining oil.

 

Hey, there is a beverage in that water bottle...

 

Dude!

 

Can anybody tell the name of the gasket that arrow # 1 points to ?

 

And also what is the best way to clean that black gunk ?

 

That is a valve cover gasket at 1. 2 is the drain catch so you don't make a mess. Sop that oil up with a paper towel and next time remove the rubber stopper and use a 1/4inch rubber hose about 4 feet long to allow the filter oil to drain to the oil pan.

 

I was going to post something, but I couldn't think of anything that was not snarky.

Clean up your mess.

 

valve cover gasket is leaking also

 

that was my suspicion. i will first clean up the mess and remove residual oil from the receptacle next to the filter. then i will wait a few weeks to see if the gunk comes back. if it does, i will replace the gasket.

thanks y'all