So for the past couple months I have had an oil smell in my car interior. After looking into certain criteria I figured it was a bad PCV valve. Apparently oil can back up into air filters and such. I changed the valve, bought a new filter. Old filter was dry, no oil. I have a check engine light on that sometimes blinks repeatedly and occasionally I feel a stutter at idle and horrible low speed acceleration. My cabin air filter was junk, but still dry. Any ideas? Car is fun but this is lame...

 

You kinda just skipped right over the important part there. Sounds like the telltale multiple cylinder misfire issue. If so, that smell could be you slowly ruining your precats..lol. Get a $50 code reader from an auto parts store and read your codes next time this happens. Then do a search on this forum about those codes.

 

^^

Year of car would help.

Get the codes.

Check all hoses, etc, I assume you did, and I assume this is a 00-01 since the PCV valve was fairly easy to change. Any leaks, how’s the oil level? When was the last time it was changed? Same goes for the plugs and general tune-up. How’s the TB look? Usually with a misfire, you get a strong odor of unburnt fuel, any of that occur around the time you get the misfire?

 

Always had a minor oil leak since buying. Its an 03. Got about 5k on NGK iridiums. Oil consumption has gone up since this smell/check engine issue has started. Hoses are generally good. No noticeable cracks, leaks or dry rot. Dont know what a TB is, I'm not a mechanic.

 

ok, don't check the TB on that year. (Throttle Body).

Where's the leak, is it leaking onto something causing it so smell worse?

 

The only leak I've found is the drain pan gasket, well under and away from any heat. Smell stays consistent, but sometimes get worse under hard acceleration and it comes through the vents immediately.

 

I'm not 100% definite & might need backing from others, but could it possibly be a bad rear valve cover? misfire & oil burning smell are the same symptoms

 

Maybe. Will a misfire show symptoms only occasionally?

 

Yup. I'll be 100% sure if you have a cylinder #5 misfire too.

 

Just cahnged my rear VC and my #5 looked poo poo.