Head gasket is OK, yet still burning coolant.

[serviceguy]

Car has been sitting for the most of 4 years.

At first it was the alternator, then once I fixed that, it was smoking badly once warmed up. I noticed at the time that the coolant seemed getting lower and lower but the smoke was bluish and the turbo did have shaft play so I had it rebuilt (actually bought a rebuilt one in place of the old oe) and 'decided' that 'that' was the problem.

Couple of weeks ago I managed to put it together and started it, it idled great and no smoke...until it warmed up again! Only now the smoke is white and it smells like coolant. Compression is OK (#2 and #3 at 145, #1 and #4 at 155) when tested. Checked FIAV, no coolant leak there, checked the oil cooler, no crashed element and it looks like new.

So I took the head off assuming the headgasket had gone bad (when I did the headgasket in 2003 the head had been resurfaced and the car went for several years without any smoke or any other problem). Instead the head gasket sealing rings were perfect and evenly compressed, no pinches or sign of damage. nevertheless #2 and #3 both had a small puddle of coolant sitting on top, intake ports #2 and #3 were just a little wet with coolant and exhaust ports #2 and #3 also were really wet with coolant.

I will need to see a machine shop anyway, but would this be enough to diagnose a cracked head or there could be something else causing the two middle cylinders getting flooded with coolant? Also, there could be a specific cause for this problem that I should be aware of when installing a new head back on? I know that a car sitting for a long time in cold weather could indeed crack a coolant passage, and all along the car has seen pretty harsh temperature here in NJ but the engine had been emptied of all fluids and it was parked in a non heated garage anyway, so I am afraid the cause being something less obvious. A visual inspection did not reveal anything.

 

[bryanwheat]

If it is losing coolant but not leaking than it is an internal leak or crack. There should be no guessing on whether or not the head is cracked. If you take it to a good machine shop than they can pressure test it and find out if it is cracked or not. If you don't find a crack with the pressure test there is another option to check for a small crack called zyglo. It is a chemical that you spray on the head that will sink into the crack. It is then examined with a uv light and the cracks will be seen.