5000CSTQ Front Seal Leak

[spsherm@ibm.net]

OK I guess I missed this one...  The 87 5000CSTQ I just bought has an
oil leak at the front of the engine.  It seems t be coming from behind
the crank pulley, so I am assuming that it is a front crank seal.

It's to the point where if I overfill the oil (which I tend to do
slightly, 1/16" to 1/8" over the full line) the excess will leak out
with the car sitting still over a few days, (I suppose a good way to
keep from overfilling things ;-)

Beside feeling dumb for missing this before I bought the car, I have a
few questions:

1.  How much danger am I putting the engine in by running it in this
condition?  Is it likely that oil will be lost over short or medium
length trips putting the engine in danger?  (I'd check it of course
every day)

2.  Is seeing oil run out when not under pressure/engine running a sign
of a really "bad" seal on these engines or is it normal?  I've never
seen oil come out of a stationary engine thru a seal before.

3.  How much of a hassle is it to change this seal oneself?  (One nice
thing about the car WAS it had the tbelt and water pump recently
changed, so I was not planning on going into the front of the engine
just yet...)

Thanks