[Jager]

Originally Posted by harryrcb

This is a very interesting question. Which came first the chicken or the egg?
It makes sense that once the seal start leaking that it deprives oil to the bearing which it's not suppose to be there in the first place. I have found on every car except the blown bearings that there was an abundance of oil behind the bearing. When you pull the bearing out you get about half a quart of oil gushing out from the shaft. I sill remember doing my first bearing and not realizing there was that much oil behind it. I had to change my pants. (oil soaked for those who might be thinking something else)
I think that when a bearing starts to fail, you will get some overheating and possibly minute vibrations that contribute to the leak.
IMO it is better to be safe then sorry, 9 times out of 10 the engine will destroy itself when the bearing goes, then its gets very expensive

Yep, it looks like this: