2004 V70 2.5T White Smoke Topic is solved

[exshavier]

First of all, let me say I've been a long time lurker, and this site has helped me fix many an issue in the past! However, I'm hoping it's not the end of the line now.
Background: 2004 V70 2.5T, ~194k miles. Been going through a lot of coolant the past couple of months with no visible leak. Tried a bottle of Bar's Stop Leak about 2 weeks ago, but no change. About a week or two ago I noticed it had started leaking oil in the driveway. Two days ago, drove it fine on a few errand runs, about 30 miles rounds trip. Yesterday, I started it up in the morning and swear I heard some sort of a "crack" noise. As I pulled out of the driveway, I was starting to be engulfed in a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust and immediately turned off the car. It smells more sweet than oily and dissipated pretty quickly, which leads to to think coolant getting in the combustion chamber. I did a few of the simpler head gasket checks that seems to at least show some good news: no milky oil, no pressure buildup/bubbles in the overflow tank. Though it could just be that I've only had the engine running for no more than a couple minutes total since the problem started.
Where would you go next with this one? If it is the head gasket, it might just be the end for this car, though I hate to try to buy a new car in the current market. Would definitely like to keep this one going a couple more years! Thanks to all who can help now and have helped in the past!

[abscate]

If it isn’t leaking coolant and it’s disappearing, the cylinder head job is next. It’s pretty easy on these cars. In this climate, repairing Is by far the most economical approach.

[jonesg]

It doesn't need to get coolant in the cyl's to smoke.
A turbo shaft breaking can put both coolant and oil in the cat converter.
I broke the shaft in my turbo. Smoked up a storm, first white steam, then blue oil smoke .
possibly the snap you heard was the turbo shaft.
Have someone crank the engine cold while you put your hand in top of the turbo. It (rattle) will be obvious soon enough.

Or inspect sparkplugs for steam cleaning.

[exshavier]

Got the plugs out, and none of them look cleaned. #3 is slightly suspicious with some more residue and a bit of reddish-ness. While I have the plugs out I might as well run a compression test and check for turbo rattling. Hopefully I'll get a bit more conclusive answer here.

[exshavier]

Also ran the compression test, cold engine with a battery that's been sitting for a week. In order, cylinders 1-5, results were 130 psi on the first three and 120 psi on 4 and 5. I think I'm convinced enough that it's less likely to be a head gasket and more likely a turbo problem, which is probably out of my mechanical abilities. Unless there's anything else that might be a simple enough diagnosis, I think it's off to the shop. Thanks to the replies above.

[RickHaleParker]

Unless there's anything else that might be a simple enough diagnosis

If you think the coolant is from the Turbo. Pull the Charged Air Pipe and check for coolant on the inside of the pipe.

[jonesg]

might be coolant pooling in the cat from a bad seal in the turbo.
Its not such a big job, turbo core cost me less than $200 ebay, came assembled and balanced from the UK.
The cast iron portion of the turbo remains bolted to the exh manifold, only the front half is removed.
Not certain you have fully diagnosed it yet.
Get it on ramps or jack stands and inspect the turbo from underside with a good light, look for coolant on the turbo.
You might find the oil leak at the turbo drain pipe gasket too.

[exshavier]

And now this weekend's update. Ran it for a couple minutes with much less noticeable smoke (disappears maybe 4" past the exhaust pipe), but it's a lot warmer and dryer today than it was a couple weeks ago. Pulled the charged air pipe (again) and took a closer look if there's anything noticeable. No real sign of coolant, but a trickle of oil on the front side; not sure if this is somewhat normal but snapped a picture. Jacked it up and got underneath to get a better look at the turbo. A golden oil glaze over a lot of the area and several drips forming on low spots, but I couldn't really discern a source. The turbo drain pipe looks to be good though. Wiped it all down, and I'll take another look another day to see if I can get a better idea of the source with everything cleaned. Thanks again to everyone contributing!

[jonesg]

this car is FWD , not AWD ?
that would make things easier if the turbo needs attention but I'm not convinced,

that oil residue can originate from the filler cap gasket. Check the cylinder head for pooling oil.
Oil can also originate from the flex coupler , between the charge air pipe and turbo. Make sure it clamps tight.
Look for chalky residue on the coolant bottle, its a common failure and will cause coolant loss that is difficult to track down.
WHite cloud on startup can be condensation , depending on weather.

[exshavier]

Sorry for the long gap, but thanks everyone for the replies. I did finally take it over to a shop that confirmed blown head gasket due to exhaust in the cooling system. Check engine light has mysteriously gone off in the meantime. Probably time to sell this one though.