Leaking brake fluid...

Okay, so last week I was driving one morning and this awful smell came in through the heater and I noticed some white smoke coming from the engine. I couldn't figure out what it was and I figured it might've been a leaf burning on the exhaust manifold or something. It happened a couple of more times over a month then next thing I know I'm low on brake fluid. Turns out there's brake fluid slowly leaking out the front of the vacuum booster (no, it's not the master cylinder) and dripping onto the exhaust manifold. So when the car heats up it stinks to high heaven.

Do I have to replace the whole vacuum booster? How involved a process is that? Could it just be a gasket?

THe vacuum booster has no fluid to leak. THe problem comes from the master cylinder rear seal. I read a post lately exactly similar to your report...I'll see if I can find and edit this post with a link......

EDIT: ...yeah...found it
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=349821&highlight=brake+fluid

just a note, i had a similar leak in my honda except is was leaking from the booster inside the cockpit. it was of course, the master cylinder. but the power booster had gotten filled with fluid from it. I dumped the booster out when i replaced the master cylinder and ran with it and the sucker (booster) failed a month or so later.

All that is to say, if you find the booster filled, you might wanna replace it too...