Engine oil leak?

My cousin informed me that her car had been leaking oil through the oil filter. In two separate occasions the oil filter was replaced, but the oil leak continued. She had also mentioned that on a recent trip, the spark plug wires had lifted but I didn't really give it much thought.
I proceeded to check the spark plugs to see if it was burning any oil. As I started taking the sparkplug wires from the sparkplugs I noticed that oil had seeped into all the chambers, enough that clean the top of the spark plugs and the plugs. Next, I removed the spark plugs but these were all dry. Big sigh of relief; so I thought. I then installed new valve cover kit which included valve cover gasket and gasket around the sparkplugs to resolve that problem. Then, I moved on to change the oil and oil filter; the oil filter was firmly tightened. The engine was started and I immediately noticed oil leaking from the oil filter. Next, I proceeded to remove the oil cap and noticed that lots of air was coming out of the oil filler hole - this didn't look good. At this time I was perplexed as to what could be causing this problem, bad piston ring or PVC valve; I turned the engine off. By this time all auto parts were closed, so as a temporary measure I decided to remove the oil filter and put a bead of red (hi-temp) silicone gasket maker around the oil filter base and placed the filter back. I turned the engine on and leaking continued.
Do you have any suggestions? Compression test perhaps?

Thank you for the reply, I will try your suggestion.

A have one more question, if the blowby preasure builds up, would it be possble that oil can seep through the rubber grommets around the Spark plugs?

Sincerely,
AC

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I noticed my car temp was running hot and then my oil light came on. When I turned the car off the engine was smoking a bit. I put 4 quarts of oil in, then two days later my oil light came back on and my engine was smoking again with a smell of over heated metal. How should I got about finding the oil leak, should I use a tracer dye. Or does it sound like something else is wrong. Thanks for any help!

What does it mean if a mechanic says there's oil leaking inside the engine?

My 96 honda accord has been leaking oil for about 6 months. I have just been adding oil til I saved up some money for repair. A friend finally cleaned the entire engine to better see where it was leaking oil. When I took it to the shop the mechanic said I needed a pcv valve because it was clogged and he said I needed a "variable timing pressure valve" that cost $225 (part only). You could see oil shooting up on the inside hood of car. He quoted me a final price of roughly $380. Plus he had to add several quarts of oil. I have been trying to research that part & price but I cant find it anywhere. He showed me the part and everything.I just don't want to get taken advantage of because I'm a woman. Have you ever heard of a variable timing pressure valve & is that repair price about right?

Are you sure he didn't mention the "Variable Timing Solenoid" b/c that part IS indeed $250, roughly.

EDIT> One frustration of the auto industry is everyone wants to call a part by a different name. Case in point: Check Engine Light. GM calls it an SES (Service Engine Soon light) and some call the "idiot lights", and I'm sure there's more names for it.