Hey whenever i have my car running for awhile and i go by the engine there is a slight smell of burning oil maybe. i have no idea what it is. is it possible that its oil because i just switched to synthetic 2,000 miles ago. anybody know what i can do, should i just take it to a shop?

 

I'd take a look at your valve cover seals/valve oil seals first. Had that problem once. I also noticed when I had a leak "up top" and could smell it, that when I took my coil pack out..it was covered in oil.

When the engine is cool....feel around the valve covers...see if you feel any wetness right below them. Also take yer coil packs out and see if they're covered in oil. If so....buy some new seals and take about 3 hours outta yer weekend.

 

One thing you might of heard before is it's not always good to switch to a fully synthetic oil after starting with a conventional. I know it has been done before, I've done it myself. Synthectic oil is alot slicker the conventional motor oil & can sometimes be so slick it finds a way to ceep "I hope I spelled that right" past certain gasket's. Especially neoprene or rubber gasket's. My guess is a small amount of oil is ceeping into the combustion chamber through where the spark plug thread into the head. The gasket(s) that would cause this problem are the same gasket (izzydog) said in his post. But the technical name for these gasket's are called spark plug tube seals. They will usually come with a new valvecover gasket. Do as izzydog instructed & if any leaks are present then try replacing the gasket's. You might want to consider using a semi synthetic oil instead of a full synthetic if you notice any oil spot's on the ground or if you continue to smell burning oil after you have replaced the gasket's.

Another thing it could also be is the PCV valve. If there is to much pressure in the crank case then it will releave that pressure throught the PCV valve & reburn it instead of releasing it into the air we breath. "Welcome to the world of smog equipt."