oil burning smell? (56k=whoaaa)

[1shot1kill]

so whenever i was driving on the highway at speeds. i smelled something burning more like oil then anything. someone told me that it could be the oil leaking on top of the gasket or something. so i took some pictures. not great pictures but close ups.

[BakaWill]

nah the camshaft cover dosent get hot enough to burn oil
i would check the gasket on it tho it may be leaking on to the exhaust manifold, i would think that its the only thing hot enough to burn oil

[1shot1kill]

what should i do if there is? should i get a cleaner thingy and blast it off or replace the cover.

[Troyfrezze]

Goto walmart and pick up the walmart brand oil cleaner in the blue bottle for 94 cents. Warm the engine by running it a few minutes, then spray the engine down with the cleaner. Use a scrub brush if you want and then hose her down. that will clean it all up quite well. As far as the leak goes...the images you have provided are from the top of the valve cover. Oil doesn't leak onto the top like that. if you have oil up there, it's probably from oil being put into the engine and leaking out and not being cleaned up. Once you clean the engine down a bit you will be able to see if you have oil leaking from the valve cover gasket. The valve cover gasket on that engine is really friggin simple to replace. Just did it a few months ago on my 93 I4. Pop the 4 plug wires out, and then you will see 4 large bolts where the spark plug wires were. Unbolt those 4 and that is all that holds the valve cover in place. The cover will then just come right off and you can remove the old gasket, clean the area with a scraper to remove oil residue and old gasket material. Goto the store and pickup a new cover for a few bucks with new seals for the spark plugs too. Pop those in place and reinstall the cover. Torque it back down and your good to go. Now honestly as far as the oil burning smell. More then likely your not getting it burning from the valve cover gasket. It is more then likely the rear main seal between the engine and the tranny. Oil will leak from this place and drip right onto the exhaust pipe that runs directly underneath it. Get a flash light and get under the car just between the wheels *where the flex pipe is at* and look and see if you see a blackend area where oil has been driping on it. Replacing this seal is a bit more of a pain, so i'm not even going to explain what all is involved. I was having the same issue a little over a year ago and finally got around to replacing that seal. Now you want to talk fun...try replacing the valve cover gaskets on the 1MZ both front and rear! That was a headache right there! Let me know what you find. I have both a 5S-fe and a 1MZ so I can probably help you with the seals on both!

[just2asian]

hmmm, pics are kinda hard to tell if it may be the valve cover gasket. Yea like what everyone else said, I would get the cleaner scrub down the engine, I personally prefer "Purple Power" I can get it at Autozone. spray down the engine, scrub and rince. If the oil reappears around the bottom of the valve cover, than u know that is the culprit.

[RichieRichJP]

It's probably the gasket. You may need to change it. PRobably what you should do is tighten down the o-ring things under the spark plug caps to see if that helps. Better get this fixed soon. Probably what it's doing is leaking down to your exhaust pipes and its probably burning the oil. Not good

[just2asian]

yea, I'm gonna have to agree with richie, because there really isn't anything else that could be leakin. When I got my valve cover gaskets done the oil smell was gone.