Could it be the o-ring for the engine oil dipstick?

 

Doubtful. I changed that recently as well and I can't imagine that would cause oil everywhere and billowing smoke (not just a little).

 

I suspect it is the large rubber plug at the rear of the head.

This has been reported as a problem by several members over the last year or so.

Seagrass

 

There is also oil everywhere on the side, top and bottom and it's dripping down in several places.

Side, top and bottom of the driver side head?

If there's oil on top of the engine, check the area around the AVLS/VVL control solenoid and switch. A leaking switch could lead to oil collecting on top of the driver side head, and running down onto the exhaust manifold below. Also, the oil supply from the engine block to the head goes through a passage at the top front of the engine that's sealed by the head gasket. A breach in the gasket could lead to pumped oil leaking out on top of the engine and, similarly, running down onto the exhaust.

 

Driver side oil would be at the front, a cam seal, crank seal or head gasket. At the rear, the rear cam seal/cap. Then there's the camshaft cap itself if the cams were removed from the head at the time of the work and not sealed properly. Next would be the valve cover gasket or spark plug tube seal, or whomever did the "reseal" didn't do the oil pan properly and it's leaking. The tube seal would allow for oil to pool in the bottom of the spark plug tube more than leak out, but if it gets high enough, it'll run down outside of the valve cover.

I suggest you clean the engine and look for where the oil is coming out. If you still have it on the car, take the air deflector off from underneath before you clean it, because you will want to get it clean on the bottom, and leave it off until you can determine where the leak is.

 

Thank you all for the information. I will try to clean it all up and investigate where it's coming from. Another question, would the exhaust system be hot enough after about 30 seconds of running from a cold start to burn.off all that oil and create so much smoke?

 

Yes. Combustion temps reach 1200°F quickly and the exhaust manifold will heat up quickly also. Oil is probably running on to the manifold flange at the head/exhaust ports.

 

I had a similar situation happened on my 2011 with a 2.5 engine. Turned out it was the crank seal that is in the oil pump, walked itself out and massive amount of oil was leaking out of it and landing on the hot exhaust manifold. same effect as you, with smoke all over the front of the engine.

fixed my issue by having to remove the timing set, oil pump, replacing that seal, and also resealing the oil pump to the engine. Hopefully this isn’t your case but it was a pain in the ass to do because it’s critical to keep it all clean as you put it back together.

 

Speaking of front crank seal popping out, there is a known problem with the seal popping out due to an oil pump issue, which requires removing the oil pump to fix.
The screws on the plate that covers the oil pump gears can come loose, which creates air and will cause the seal to pop out, even after the seal is replaced, it will pop out again

 

Yes, within 30 seconds of running the temperature at the exhaust closest to where it exits the engine reaches a couple hundred degrees+. With the oil leak, oil will find its way into the heat shields and will take a long time before it finally burns off even after you have completed this repair, don’t ask me how I know.

 

Update: I switched out the driver's side oil pressure switch and degreased the engine as best as possible. Fired it up and it was smoking like crazy. I guess I didn't rinse the degreaser enough. After some time the amount of smoke decreased so I took it for a long drive. The smoke is almost gone and no new oil leaks visible. It seems the problem has been solved. I'm just surprised that such a small part can create such a mess. I'll keep my eye on it but everything seems fine for now.
Thank you all for the help!