[ilicboris]

A couple of weeks ago when it became really cold (30s* F) my car started to have a rough idle and shake and then it would either level out or I’d have to restart it and then it would be fine. It happened usually on cold starts and sometimes on warm starts. Then I noticed a small few drops of oil on the ground on the passenger side of the car. I changed oil a week ago so didn’t think to investigate right away. I scanned the car a few times and it always returned codes for misfires on cylinder 2 and 3 and a code for multiple misfires. This past weekend I swapped coils around on Bank 1 and double checked the plugs. Plugs looked used, but not worn out. Coils and plugs were replaced about 20k miles ago when I got JB4. Bank 1 injectors are index 6 and bank 2 is index 9, never touched in my ownership. Car ran okay for about 2-3 days.

This morning I turned it on, car idled fine and by the time I was halfway out of my neighborhood (1-2 min) the check engine light came on, rough idle appeared, no power, and a burning smell entered the cabin. Turned right back around and drove home and parked and that’s when I noticed a bigger pool of oil in the driveway. Have not had time to look at it as I’m at work and trying to find out where to start looking. Here are my ideas for how this could play out:

1. Valve cover is leaking and dripping oil onto manifold/turbos and finding its way to the ground. Would explain the pool of oil and burning smell entering the cabin. Buy new gasket and bolts.
2. Valve cover itself is cracked. Apparently this is common and the cover comes with a new gasket. Prices have skyrocketed on these valve covers. Buy new cover that comes with gasket and bolts.
3. Spark plugs and coils are done for. Plugs and coils have been tuned for entire 20k I’ve had JB4 and seems to be average life for plugs on these cars? Coils were some cheapos I got a deal on once.
4. Bank 1 index 6 injectors are toast. Would I have more issues than a cold misfire and wouldn’t they be acting up constantly? Why would it be fine for a few days?

Sorry for the novel, just trying to get a head start on where to look and minimize damage to the wallet. Obviously scenario 3 would be cheapest, but the oil leak still needs to be fixed. Can a leaking gasket and/or cover cause a misfire?

Appreciate any help I can get, thanks!