I will be the first one to tell you I hardly know anything about motors besides the general concept and what I read online.

So with that out of the way, I thought I had been smelling burnt oil lately after parking.

I looked over the motor (2004 73k miles) and I found by the dipstick that there was what seemed to be caked on oil/debris. I'm not sure how to exactly explain it, and I will try to get a picture on here later, but it is in the same flat "plane" as the dipstick, I could notice it from the dipstick all the way to the back of motor.... on the edge of the motor.

Is this a common area for an oil leak? I've tried to check my oil levels numerous times and with the retarded dipstick Nissan designed for us, I couldn't come up with ONE single good reading.

I'm going to let the car sit overnight and try to check it in the morning.

 

The dipstick is a tight fit - there should be no oil residue in that area. Other than that I cant tell jack without photos.

 

Check the seal around the dipstick. A few other members had issues of getting oil blown past the retainer because the seal went bad. Its more common on boosted cars, but simple and worth a shot. Also, you could clean the area throughly and then attempt to track where the source of the oil seems to be for better idea of the issue.

 

valve cover leak?

 

Thanks, got busy last night and forgot to snap some pics. I will get some today and also clean the area and check the seal as well, it does feel like the dipstick snaps in pretty good though.

 

7 days and no photos. How do you expect us to help you if you do not help us.

 

if teh dipstick isnt seated fully, it WILL leak from there.