OK... My car has been parked now for almost a month due to legal problems, and today I went to move my car, and it started smoking from the back of the engine. So I tightened the valve cover and it still smoked. Then I took the cover off and checked the gasket, it looked fine. When I looked at the inside of the cover it had some white stuff in it... I think water may have gotten in there or something. Or could it be coolant? I still haven't found the cause of the smoke though. What could be wrong?

was there a definate smell coming from it? It could be a rats nest burnign that was up in the engine somewhere. could of been back by the exhaust manifolds.

it smelt like burning oil

If the inside of the cover had white residue in it, it'* a coolant issue. It'* rare on a Series I to have a coolant issue, but have your coolant system pressure checked to tell you for sure.

Sometimes, moisture in the air will condense on the inside of the valve covers when the crankcase ventilation system isn't working right. You might want to check it out after a long run when it has had a good chance to warm up and naturally rid itself of the accumulated moisture. If it is still there, then I'd be looking at coolant issues, too.

On alot of the engines that I haver replaced in my career I have seen alot of white gunk inside of valve covers and all it is is moisture as stated before. The main cause of this if in the winter you take alot of short trips where the engine doesn't fully heat up thereby not burning off this moisture that is in the crankcase. Allowing the engine to full warm up, frequently changing the oil and ensuring your PCV valve is working will take care of this.