head gasket. Is it blown?

[commodoredave]

vt II v6, no turbo or scharge

symptoms
NO oil going into coolant
NO coolant going into oil
No obvious loss of oil
No overheating
minor coolant loss ( say, 125ml per month)
lower manifold intake gaskets recently replaced with no leaks
White smoke on cold start on cold early morning out of tailpipe.
Rough ( misfiring) on startup but settles down when warm. Struggles ( chugs) up hills but does not overheat.
sucking sound around the vacuum air intake area.

Would a cylinder pressure test confirm a blown gasket? What other signs might be worth considering?

 

[krusing]

Very unlikely to be a head gasket,
Not saying there isn’t, but unlikely,

Does sound like a vac leak,

Get it scanned first up and check it for any current and historical codes,
And/or
Faulty plug and/or coil.


A smoke test should uncover a leak if it has one, if not, you can rule that out,
Check the torque of the intake hardware.

Hopefully a smoke test will uncover a leak.