Well, the oil level was just a hair above the top notch on the dipstick right after an oil change (about 250 miles ago) The motor is still pretty warm right now as I just shut it off about an hour ago, but checking the oil it is about a 1/4" below the top notch on the dipstick. I have had an oil leak almost as bad one time when I changed a valve cover gasket, so I'm not overly surprised. The car was fine and not leaking any oil topside before I adjusted the valves and changed the cover gasket.

A friend from work just spoke to me and said she was following me the last 5 miles to work and at a constant 55 she said she could see a faint but steady trail of black smoke out of the exhaust pipe.

BTW, no floor mats in the car right now.

When I said covered in oil, it is not heavy coverage, just a what you would get if say you poured about a half a cup into the wind from a fan....Blows it everywhere if you know what I mean. The Valve cover gasket is definitely leaking, all on the drivers side, especially on the front corner and by the first two injectors. The back side and passenger side are dry.

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2012 Mercedes ML350 Bluetec 102K (hers)
2005 Corvette 55K (fun car)
2002 VW Jetta TDI 238K (mine)
1998 Volvo S70 T5 Turbo 211K (kids)
1994 Ford F150 4WD 246K (firewood hauler)
1983 Mercedes 300D 384K (diesel commuter)