Good Compression and a smoking car?

[maximumbob]

So my car has been smoking intermittently for the past month or so. The white smoke at idle should mean that it's burning coolant, however it does not happen every time it idles. I checked my compression (175,175,178,172). So that looked like my headgasket should be good still. I then disconnected my coolant lines from the 14b, thinking that maybe it might be letting coolant into the exhaust. It ran great without smoking at all. Then, yesterday it smoked all day at idle. It is definitely coolant because I had a mechanic friend tell me that when he looked at it. He told me that it was the headgasket. I asked about not losing compression and he didn't have an answer. So I have two questions. First, how likely is it to have a blown head gasket but still have good compression? Second if it is not my headgasket allowing coolant in what else could it be?

ps I have seen 21psi on occasion, but I run mostly 18psi on the stock gasket and bolts.

thanks
bob

 

[marcmsj]

it might be oil that you're burning and not coolant. have you noticed a loss of either coolant or oil?

 

[missouri_dsm]

white smoke is coolant. like marcmsj said have you noticed any loss of coolant? oil is blue/gray.

 

[Game Over]

More then likely is IS oil you are burning and oil can be white. I recently blew my T25 and it smoke at idle white, then it would go at take off, then it smoked all the time. It was always white smoke, I always lost oil.

So, check for shaft play, or a cracked exhaust housing, and replace the turbo if necessary, because it probably is the turbo.

 

[marcmsj]

white smoke is coolant. like marcmsj said have you noticed any loss of coolant? oil is blue/gray.

sometimes oil does burn white... when my car was burning oil, it was white..

 

[missouri_dsm]

http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/ExhaustFAQ.htm#Colour of Smoke

 

[maximumbob]

Well I am losing some oil but it's not very much at all and I think it is mainly due to a leaking gasket for the turbo oil drain. When my t25 went out the smell of the smoke was really quite different more like the smell one would associate with burning oil, this smell is really really bad not really the same at all. I think it isn't sweet smelling because I run propylene glycol ( pet friendly antifreeze). Also the shaftplay on the 14b isn't bad at all. The shaft doesnt move more than a 1mm up or down. The exhaust housing was cracked when I put it on also. But there hasn't been a significant change in the amount of coolant or the amount of oil in my car. The leaking gasket happened when I put the 14b on over a year ago because of some old RTV that didn't harden.

 

[Game Over]

PCV Valve?

 

[maximumbob]

I have the intake mani pcv hole plugged and both the pcv and crankcase vented to the atmosphere so my fuel trims are accurate for adjusting injecotrs with dsmlink, so I doubt that it stuck causing excess pressure or something.

I am putting on my RS60T and a new head gasket with arps in late may. So my question is if I am about 98% sure I am burning coolant and I plan on replacing both the turbo and the head gasket, is there something else that would allow be to still be burning coolant?

bob