oil leak

[scas660 at netzero.com (scas660@netzero.com)]

Please help

My 86 scirocco (16V) has been running great until yesterday when I started it up and heard some fairly loud clanking noises. I looked under the hood and the noise was obvioulsy coming from the head area ("oh crap I think I blew my valves" was may first thought) then I looked under the car and saw a small puddle of oil and oil that spattered all around the oil filter area. Next I checked out the dip stick and hardly any oil was on it at all. Anybody know what this is all about? Is the oil cooler near that area and might that be the problem? I don't think I drove it in this condition long - I only noticed the sound yesterday - could there be severe damage? In NY there's snow around and its cold (I don't have a garage nor do I want to bring it to a shop if I don't have to)

Thanks for any help - Steve

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