[rgelinskey]

It wasn't the vacuum pump causing the leak, but I feel it needed to be replaced anyway. I am now replacing the valve cover and gasket. After further research I found this is quite common with the plastic valve covers on the N20 engines. Sure enough, mine has a crack in the valve cover right above where it was leaking. From watching videos, this seems like a common spot also, above the second bolt from the rear. That explains why oil stop-leaks weren't working. This should solve the oil leak and burning smell.

I also changed out the sparkplugs while I was at it. My X1 has 138,000 and still running strong!