I've been having this issue for about a year now, but it's definitely gotten worse over time. The car goes through oil like a pig - about a quart every 500-700 miles. Idling at a stop light, I can see small trails of white smoke coming out of the hood. Any time I stop, I can smell burning oil through the vent/heater (I'm assuming from all of the oil burning off the valve covers). And recently, the engine ticks a bit at idle, like the valves aren't getting enough oil.

Anyway, I got stuck driving the car to work this morning since the battery is dead in my daily. There are some big hills on there way here, so I was above 2500rpm for a fair amount of the drive. I popped the hood when I got to work and was greeted to more oil than I've ever seen sitting on the drivers side valve cover.

A quick google search has shown me this is most likely being caused by blowby. I replaced the PCV valve a year ago when this issue started and it did not help. I still get small pools of oil under the pcv hose where it connects to the intake manifold. Is there anything else I can do short of rebuilding the motor to fix this? At 172k miles, it probably needs it, but I'd really like to limp the car along another year or two until I can get out of my parents house.

 

Just asking, but is your fresh air hose hooked up on the TB to the passenger valve cover?

 

The last I checked it was. I'll check again today just in case.