i have an oil leak on the back of the engine around the valve cover gasket area and i have been reading up on the oil leak/flame trap relationship here on brickboard. i thought maybe i had a gasket leak, then i thought maybe a plug leak going on. ive been tinkering on it for the past couple hours (trying to locate, remove and then clean the flame trap, and then trying to locate the leak while the car was idling) and i have some questions. first, the flame trap looked clean (although it looked rough--cracked and not fitting together all that well) but what about the black box below it, what is that, and can it get clogged and cause these problems, too. second, i was attempting the oil filler suction test (putting my hand over the oil fill opening to see if there is any suction) that i heard about here and found something that seemed noteworthy to me (i am not a mechanic!!) with my hand at the back of the engine, i could feel air (and oil) blowing out of what i assume to be the end of the camshaft (the circular spinning thing--like i said, i am a novice mechanic at best)... when i removed the oil filler cap, the air stopped blowing, i replace the cap, and you guessed it, the air is blowing oil all over my firewall. so im wondering if my problem is a gasket, too much pressure due to a clogged flame trap (or somewhere else i should check), a combination of both, or something altogether different.

thanks in advance for any info/advice.