Hey folks -- I'm not a regular brickboard poster, and don't have the skills to do much work on my 1992 745. But I was hoping I could get some advice...

I have an oil leak that is significant but not severe right now -- maybe a quart every thousand miles of around-town driving. My mechanic, who I trust, says he's pretty sure it's a bad cam seal (we checked a bunch of hoses, etc.), and that his bet is that when the former owner got the last belt changed they didn't replace the seals. The thing is, my mechanic says that he thinks when I fix this that I should plan on replacing the belt and water pump as well, because the leak (visible on the water pump) indicates that there's probably oil in there and the labor to get at the seals would just have to be done all over again if the belt failed soon after because of oil damage. All told, replacing these things will set me back $750, which I don't have. And replacing just the seals will cost almost $500 just for the labor -- he says it's a day's job. Otherwise the car's in very good shape (ha).

The question is -- how long can I put this work off? The mechanic says it's fine to drive it until the leak is out of control or the belt fails, but doesn't recommend that I take it out of town (which I was planning to do soon). Does that make sense? Is there any way I can slow the leak down? Could I just keep pouring oil in for months? I wish I knew more about this stuff -- hope you guys don't mind advising a novice.

Thanks.