Well, I've noticed the 4.5 is using a bit too much oil...as in a good quart lost in a week or two. I think this is partly because I chose to tinker with 5w-x oil...bad me...but still. I can see the oil buildup on the passenger side of the engine... The water pump is good and sludged, and things around it are accumulating a black misty look to them... I should point out it has always done this to some extent (whilst I had the car). I replaced the timing cover and associated gaskets last year, and I thought that was the source...guess not. Anyhoo, just from looking, it looks like it's coming from the intake manifold gasket... which appears to be less fun on this engine than a lot of others :-D. My real question is (unless it could be coming from elsewhere) how am I getting copious oil from there? Does this mean valve seals? And if so, what is involved in replacing them? And are there any special tools I'd need besides a valve spring compressor?

The oil pan gasket is a notorious culprit on the 4.X series. You'd think it would drip straight down but the air currents while in motion blow it all over the place and make the diagnosis as to origin confusing. I thought I had multiple leaks with the pan as primarily the one. Replacement the pan gasket cured it all. Considering the work involved getting the crossover pipe down, I used the Fel-Pro Perma Dry Plus instead of another OEM cheapie to make sure it wouldn't happen again. Worked great.
FWIW
YMMV

Interesting... I'll have to look at that. I'm not seeing it as the oil pan gasket though because I looked underneath and the crankshaft damper area where the oil pan meets the front cover is nice and clean, and so is the circular oil seal behind it. I just looked this morning, and that could be because I drove it yesterday in the loads of rain here without the wheel cover on, and it could just have "washed" it off...but the RTV looks to be well-sealed there....but from above, the water pump body is covered with oil sludge and the area slightly above it has a lighter coating. The alternator is even getting a slight "mist" of oil on it. That's why I was thinking the intake manifold gasket. Also, because last year when I did the water pump and timing cover gaskets, I noticed the intake gasket was all sludgy.

And to add insult to injury, it's getting worse. Yesterday, during a turn, my oil light came on for a split second. I looked afterwards, and it looked like I had about one quart :eek:. Fortunately, I was near an Advance Auto, so I picked up a gallon of Rotella 15w-40 and poured it in. I drove it a good 130 miles since, and the oil is right in the middle of the proper range, but I'm not sure how far up it was right after I poured it in because I was in a hurry. I had 5w-30 in there before, so maybe that was part of it. I'll wait and see, but I definitely have an issue somewhere lol.

I would spray it and then keep your eye on it. The belts and pullies can throw it around. It could be the intake. I would rule out one of the valve covers though. I would rather change one of those gaskets then the intake and still have it leak.

Ah, yes, sorry, I forgot to mention that I did the valve cover gaskets just last year, and I can see that they are not the problem. From the look of it, it looks like the intake gasket definitely is an issue, but what I was more wondering is how that much oil (as in enough to have enough sludge I can pick off with my fingers--eck) gets through the intake gasket...or rather, to it. I realize some is going to be there, but it doesn't seem to me like a lot of oil should be even reaching that gasket, which is why I asked if it meant valve seals if it were. I mean we're still before the combustion chamber, and well...errgh, maybe lol...I'm just not sure of the oil passageways.