These are helpful and cheap. Also good for home colonoscopy!

Click image to enlarge

That's a great idea, many thanks for the thought.

I've just purchased one and can imagine it'll be useful for other things too and not just looking down the back of an engine and DIY colonscopies. £7.95 delivered with plenty of choice on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waterproof-6LED-...Sw4A5YoY3y

Ever get this sorted?

Partially.

I changed the offside rocker gasket which seemed as if it just needed to be fitted correctly as it appeared to have been recently changed and that has certainly improved the situation. There was a slight leak and that was dripping directly onto the exhaust periodically which was causing smoke under the hood. I guess a combination of factors may have been enough to make this worse and the smoke to be dragged in.

Whilst better though and I haven't seen the smoke, I do get a strong smell when I stop and remain stationary which I feel is increased when I then reverse, but it's hard to tell really as the smell is strong in the first place.

I've visually checked and felt the pcv/pipes and I can't spot anything untoward. The camera came in very useful so thanks for that piece of advice.

I need to get it up in the air as I can't see anything obvious and it's all pretty oily so if I clean I can hopefully get a better picture.

All that smoke from oil has lined the vents. If you can clean them it will help. You may know how easy it is to get cabin air filter vents out and can also get to the firewall vents. BMW valve cover gaskets are problems for leaks as they age or are not seated well when installed. I clean both surfaces well and remove all oil with acetone. Then I use a thin film of RTV on the head and valve cover mating surfaces. Let it get tacky before placing gasket on. This will hold it in place. I torque to about 2 lbs ft short of recommended torque, wait overnight and finish torque. It is recommended to change the bolt grommets too but may be able to get 2 gasket changes to 1 grommet set change.