987 Oil leak on top of engine - any insight?

I had the cover off for the first time and I see evidence of a leak on top of the engine. Any thoughts on what to look for here? [edit[ It's a 2007 Cayman S thanks for the help!

The usual culprits are power steering fluid or engine oil that bypassed the air/oil separator. Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Possibly someone overfilled the PS fluid reservoir. The marks on the dipstick are not Min/Max but Cold/Hot.

Since the entire engine is dirty, buy some Gunk engine degreaser, spray it on, let it work for a few min, then gently wash it off. Do this to the top and bottom of the engine. Go back in a month and look for new spots of oil. It is important to gently wash the top of the engine (not as necessary on the bottom), as high pressure washing can cause issues with connectors, etc. BTW... it's helpful to list specifics about your car - Boxster or Cayman , base or S, model year, etc.

Doesn't seem like the usual place for an oil leak. As RSchwerer mentioned it could be someone overfilling the PS fluid (that reservor is right there). Clean the engine bay and see if it comes up again.

thanks Croc'ed. I actually opened it to look at the Power steering fluid and it was low... so that kind of aligns with that idea. the PS fluid actually really low when I checked, so not sure it would make sense it was sputtering up there.. and it had been sitting for quite a while. No leaks to be found on the garage floor though. I also see similar leaking on the other end away from the PS reservoir... so that makes me think it's something else. I'll take the advice to carefully clean it up and see what comes back.

thanks... I"ll do that. 2007 Cayman S by the way.

I think I can save you some time - I had exactly the same problem. You have a leak in your power steering fluid reservoir, which is why the fluid is low. (You'll find that any fluid you add will just end up on the engine.) The reservoir actually has 2 parts - an upper part that holds most of the fluid, and a lower part that connects to the power steering lines. Where they connect, there is an o-ring seal. The problem is that the upper part is not secured to anything other than the bottom part; it, along with the mass of the power steering fluid, can flop around up there during spirited driving. Eventually, the o-ring seal gives out. The best way to fix this is to replace the upper part of the power steering reservoir with the new design, which has a bracket that secures it to the engine. I don't know if you can replace just the upper part and the o-ring, or whether you have to replace the whole reservoir assembly (my indie did the job for me). Talk to your dealer/mechanic.

I recently did some fuel injector work ( 06 Cayman S ) and while struggling with fuel rail and intake manifold removal noticed oil puddles on the top of the engine. It seems that the drain from the PS fluid reservoir was the culprit. I have not added any PS fluid since purchasing the car almost 20K miles ago. Your suggestion that the reservoir itself may be at fault is of interest. Do you know of a way to check/confirm this (without disassembly of the reservoir if possible)? If there is a newer version of the reservoir, do you have/know the PN? Thanks for your help.