2008 Odyssey EX-L, 135K miles.

i recently started getting a burning oil smell coming from the engine compartment and am burning some oil (still trying to calculate but probably a quart every 1000 miles or so).

I did get a puff of white smoke once on startup which points towards a valve seal issue but am not sure how to confirm that. And that was just once on a cold start. There is no dripping oil where I park and I can't see anywhere around the engine that it's leaking but the engine sure is wedged in tight and I haven't pulled it up on ramps yet. Other than the smell and puff of smoke everything is normal - engine is strong, idles fine, runs fine, etc. It definitely gets worse as the engine is worked harder. On a grocery store run I usually don't smell anything but today I climbed a few thousand feet on a +/- 20 mile drive and the smell got very strong. Coming back down I didn't smell anything. Even with some moderate engine braking.

Thanks for any ideas or advice!

 

Update - looks like the all too familiar leaking front spool valve. Oil leaks onto the alternator and often causes it to fail. I actually just did my alternator but had no oil at all on it and definitely would have noticed this leak. Anyway, looks like crap/counterfeit parts on Amazon, etc. are a bad idea. Honda wants around $270 for the part, Napa has one for roughly half that and I'm going that route. Listed shop time on the TSB is .8 hours.... hoping I can get it done it 3X that

Update #2 - I found that NAPA's part was manufactured by Dorman and they also have just the gaskets, plate and bolts for $25 so I went that route. Just to be clear, this is NOT one of the kits off Ebay that says it's Honda (those are generally counterfeit). This is just the parts from the same company that makes the aftermarket valve sold at NAPA. Anyway, the swap was super-easy and took less than an hour. All is well. No leaks, no CELs.

One note - I kept the OEM plate and discarded the one in the kit as one of the holes looked VERY slightly smaller in the Dorman kit. With all the reports of CELs and suspected flow restriction due the screen mesh I didn't want anything slowing the flow. I ended up having to get a torque wrench that went down to 6lb-ft and am glad I did. Judging that small amount of torque would have been difficult.