oil leak in a unexpected place?

[xreaction122]

ive been losing bits of oil and i was looking around the engine bay for possible leaks.

and i see oil saturated in the middle of my exhaust manifoldWTF

somewhere between cylinder #2 and #3.

i checked the valve cover but its sealed tight and no sign of leaks at all.



any ideas?

 

[xreaction122]

Have you checked your PCV valve lately? I know you said the valve cover gasket is good and completely sealed, but maybe you are building crank case pressure while driving and that is causing oil to leak past the valve cover seal. Were there any nicks in the valve cover/head mating surfaces when you installed the gasket? If so, did you use a little RTV?

checked the pcv valve and its perfect as far as i can tell