Almost to work this very cold morning (-2F) and I started to smell a burning smell. When I got to work, popped the hood and found oil sprayed over the top of the motor mostly on the drivers side with the majority of it on the air intake hose, cruise control unit and brake master cylinder area.
I checked the oil level (full) and started and ran car a few minutes, did not see any sign of a leak.

It's a 97 960 wagon, any ideas what it might be?

Thanks!

 

UPDATE:
Ran it, looked for leak, nothing seen leaking and with the pattern of oil, it definitely was a pressure driven leak. Drove it home (25 minute trip), no burning smells, no CEL but did use a 1/2 qt of oil.
Car ran fine going to work but have not checked for oil consumption to see if any leaked out.

I'm thinking the pcv was clogged and blew out or vented?

 

I'm still trying to figure this one out, It seems to have been a one time occurrence, at least for now. I checked the PCV and hose, no oil stains on it and it's still intact.

Anyone have any suggestions??? Anyone have an issue like this happen?
Any thoughts?

 

Weird things sometimes happen... As long as it doesn't repeat I wouldn't worry about it!

 

Fluids can blow around pretty good under the hood. I chased a coolant leak once and ended up fixing it by replacing the tstat seal. Most of the fluid was on the other side of the motor.

I would pull the timing belt cover and make sure your cam seals are not leaking.

 

Thanks for the replies!
I did have the TB cover off 3 weeks ago to change out Belt, water pump and pulleys, tensioner's and the seals where fine. It's more from the back, from the area of the CC unit on top to the master cylinder and in between. There is some oil on the tube going into the "not a pcv" but most of it in the area above and toward fire wall. I'm hoping to be in a borrowed warm garage on Saturday so I can really investigate further. I'm also going to clean out the flame trap as I have no idea when it was done last.

Interesting thing is as far as I can tell, it hasn't leaked since and the dipstick hasn't gone down since it first happened.
What is it trying to tell me I wonder