Toyota Repair: Oil pressure light - 97 Camry, valve cover gasket, low oil pressure

Question
Hi Ted,
I just bought a 97 Camry LE 4 Cyl, Auto with 72K miles from an auction. After buying it, the oil pressure light came on. My mechanic first thought that it could be the oil sensor or oil pump. Both he said are fine. He diagnosed that there is oil leaking from the oil pan area below and valve cover gasket, he said he wasn't sure if the main seal was leaking as well. He says that to fix the main seal if that is a problem, the transmission will need to be taken out in the process..He says that if the car has been driven with low oil the bearings could possibly be bad causing the oil pressure light to come on.

Before going down the black hole of trying to pump good money into an abyss what do you recommend. The car drives well. Even if I wanted to sell it, I would need to treat the problem that causes the oil light to come on intermittently...

Any thoughts or recommendations?  

Answer
The only way to be sure about the oil pressure is to connect a mechanical gauge to the engine and check the actual pressure, I have no idea how your mechanic checked for this, you didn't tell me, if the pressure is low when checking with a gauge it may be due to a restricted oil pump pickup screen in the oil pan, if excessive clearance in the bearings where the cause the would be a lot of engine noise, knocking noises, oil leaks don't cause low oil pressures so don't waste your money fixing leaks, it won't help, your primary concern should be why the oil light is coming on so try to have the pressure tested, I highly recommend that you have a toyota dealer do this.
After determining the cause of the low oil pressure you may or may not decide to have the leaks fixed.