Mitsubishi Repair: 96 Eclipse problem, valve cover gasket, head gasket

Question
Hello Sir, good morning to you. I'm wondering if you could help me diagnose a problem with my 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse. The car has a serious oil leak - about a quart per week when driven. My first fear was that it was a head gasket, but I'm not really going through any antifreeze at all - the coolant is full. After being driven for awhile, and then stopping, you smell a strong smell of burnt oil, and light smoke will start coming out from under the hood, almost as if oil is being burned off the exhaust. There is some oil around the top of the engine. I love this car and hate to get rid of it, plus, I still owe payments on it. I'm afraid I'll be driving along and it's going to die. Any ideas at all, and I will be eternally grateful! - Tom

Answer
Tom,
Your problem may be as simple as a worn valve cover gasket and worn oil cap gasket.  Those gaskets are pretty easy to replace and relatively inexpensive (about $40 for the valve cover gasket and $5 for the oil cap gasket).  Oil may also be leak out past the dip stick seal.  You can get a new dip stick from the dealership, and that is not that much money.  Those are the most common causes for seeing oil near the top of your engine.

Have the gaskets replaced and that should help.  It's very common for older Eclipses for the valve cover gaskets and oil cap gasket to go bad after a while.
Good luck!