need ideas for oil leak location

[stackz]

ok, I've only had this 01 3.0 x5 for a couple months. its only got 136k on it and overall in really nice shape. I've slowly been doing maintenance that was neglected by the yuppy mom that owned it before me.

just routine stuff that never got done such as brakes, belts, etc.

anyway, noticed the past month or so that every now/then I'd shut the car off and smell oil burning. I'd immediately pop the hood and would get just a quick wiff of it and then it'd be gone, so I couldnt really focus on any particular area to help zone in on it. kinda like a slow leak I would guess.

while I had the fan/shroud and such off while doing the belts I was looking around and I can see "some" evidence of oil leakage on the front of the engine as well as accessories but nothing overly "aha".

Also, on the intake manifold in the top middle there is oil soak showing at this goofy divider looking thing right in the top middle. anyone know what that is?

The only other evidence...and what I'm leaning to as the source is the heat shields for the exhaust manifold. The rear one especially looks wet to the touch even though you know it gets pretty hot from the exhaust manifold. I'm thinking the valve cover is leaking pretty decently onto the heat shields and its burning off there.

NO evidence of front/rear seal or oil pan leaks or massive leaking as I park on my driveway all the time and it is nice and clean.

drove from charleston to clemson and back this weekend for a game and had to add 1/2 quart at the halfway mark and then 1/4 quart once I got there. then another 1/2 quart halfway home...so its definitely going somewhere.

Its not burning in the cylinders either. I checked the plugs in the freezing cold this morning and they are all showing normal. no signs of oil burning on them.

gonna get a valve cover gasket at lunch and put it on this afternoon and then pressure wash the engine and start looking seriously in a couple of days after I drive it around some more.

I've heard the vanos seals go out at about this mileage as well. could I be losing oil there? how hard is a rebuild on that? from youtube it looks like just a main gasket and some o-rings on the two cylinders but I havent really got into my research on it anymore than that.

oil leaks are really easy to fix once you find them and I cant stand them as it is. irritates me that people will run an otherwise good engine without oil and burn it up over a stupid $20 gasket and some of their time to replace it.

any problem spots to look at will be greatly accepted. I'll take some pics this afternoon of some of the areas I've noticed so people can help me ID sensors, etc and whether I can put teflon, etc on them.

I've got the bentley manual as well but only really used it twice for when I was changing the belts and rear brakes...if its as useless as it was when I did those, I'm fearful of larger items.