I was working on the brakes of the project car when I noticed an oily substance on the suspension and inside the wheel well.
Would a bad strut cause this? Is there anything from the engine that would spray the wheel well? The oil cooler is outside of this area and there is no sign it is leaking.

 

Check the inside of the wheel hub to see if the bearing is leaking.

 

Get a picture and share it with us so we can also better help you troubleshoot.

 

will do

 

when my oil coolers leaked there was oil everywhere in the wheel well

 

No evidence the cooler is leaking.

 

These are pics of the strut, sway bar and wheel well.

 

For reference, here is the passenger side.

 

Could be anything, maybe the previous owner had a problem that has been fixed. Is the front of your engine oily?

 

No. And no dripping anywhere.

 

It's not recent, by the looks of it. Lots of road dust collected in the oil. Maybe someone tried to put undercoating on just one side of the car? But also, the pattern on the wheel liner looks to me like a one time splash, not a continuous misting of oil from a leak or flung by spinning components. I don't think a strut would have done this.

 

You may be right, but it's all over the upper A-arm and sway bar.

 

Both front shocks are toast, and source of oil based on pictures. I wouldn't be surprised if the rears were also toast.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking.