smell oil burning

[soaper]

i have a 98 transport. runs ok. lately, i have been smelling what appears to be burning oil through the air vents when the vehicle is stationary. the oil level has also lowered. no evidence on the driveway. any suggestions?

[Judysvan]

Recently same problemo here with '99 Montana. No oil consumption from crankcase, no black tailpipe innards, no heavy smell of burned oil under hood. But run the vent on outside air, and my goodness it stinks like the whole thing might light up in oily smoke any minute.

I suspect that it may be the rear valve cover leaking onto a hot manifold (but the front valve cover has no evidence of leaks down into plug area or manifold). Then, there are a few small gaps in the rubber seal at top of cowling, and a slight pressure differential may suck all those fumes into the outside screen area just under the wipers. True? If so, how to check the back manifold without the pain of pulling the engine forward 60 degrees (like when I changed the rear plugs 30,000 miles ago)?

judysvan