Oil/grease under front passenger mat...?

[Honolulu]

Noticed that the front passenger floor mat is getting black, apparently from oil or ?what. Car still has the factory tarpaper or whatever it is under the mats, which appear half soaked with black oily schmutz (technical term, please bear with). Not sure where this could be coming from... doesn't the evap line run from the canister over the right rear wheel well run though this area?

 

[teahead]

smells like what?

 

[Gary Knox]

AC?? If so, sounds like it may be AC compressor oil associated with a leak in the tubes/hoses that run into the console evaporator. That oil gets pumped around through the system when the AC is operating.

My '74 had a lot of black oil in the front section ahead of the radiator on the right front fender/grill area. It was AC compressor oil from a leak in the hose. (Now solved, as all new AC components EXCEPT evaporator).

 

[eriknetherlands]

Perhaps...

My engine is sweating a lot. Oil runs down the block, and it has covered most of the under side of the transmission tunnel, including the front floors, left and right.

Now if you add a rusted through floor to that, which is not uncommon, i would think that it could be a source.

How does the floor look like from below?
Could the black stuff be engine oil?