Oil leak above exhaust manifold

[Desaevious]

Masters of R3V,

Out of the blue I started having this oil leak. It is not from spilling. I thoroughly cleaned and then replaced the valve cover gasket and torqued it down well. I doubt this is from the head gasket, as this is leaking ONTO the exhaust manifolds. Any one know what this is? I believe this issue is also fouling my spark plugs because my fuel efficiency has been poor.



Thanks.

[jlevie]

If the oil is only on the rear header, it pretty much has to be coming from the valve cover. Otherwise it could be from the cam and blowing back onto the engine.

[Desaevious]

I will find it on both front and rear after a 10+ mile trip. This picture showed how bad it was. But yes, I will try the valve cover again considering they're cheap enough. I thought about cam seal. I am 99% certain I can rule out HG.