4.9 with oil leak

looking for advise, mainly from curiosity.

we were looking at a 93 deville with 4.9 and 158k miles. Friend took it to their own mechanic, who ive always thought was full of junk, anyway. He said the oil leak was a problem with the bottom half of the engine, and the only way to correct it would be with a new engine.

ive been a 4.9 fan for many many years and know that they are usually good for about 300k and i have never heard of this leak problem. the mechanic also told my friend that after 100k the only thing a Cadillac was good for was leaks.

Does anyone else have facts or opinions on this.

oil pan gaskets are fairly common on 4.5 & 4.9 but they arent that big of a deal.. i did mine in the shop on the lift w/ air tools in less than an hr, gasket cost like 12.00

my thought was the oilpan also, adn i knew that was nothing to repair. the reason i posted, was since the mechanic said he would have to build the whole engine, it peaked my curiosity.

i figure he probably wanted the car for himself, wrote down the number, gave it a bad diagnosis, and called the owner himself.

Take a look around the oil filter. Loose connections around there are a known source of leaks.