I'm gonna be looking at a winter car and its going for dirt cheap because the seller is saying its got a finished head gasket. Only 95,000 miles on it considering the price ($300 OBO for an 86 celica).

Now I'm wondering if there is a way to tell the difference between a motor thats got a cracked sleeve and a finished head gasket. I'm imagining the cracked sleeve would blow white smoke at all times whereas a blown headgasket would probably just have an engine running badly with emulsification under the oil filler and oil in the coolant... any insight?

 

compression test, if all cylindars are within 20% of each other shouldn't be a specific cylindar thats cracked..... or better yet leak down test to see EXACTLY what the problem is.

 

And what would the tests show if it was a sleeve problem or gasket problem? In my opinion I think its tough to tell the difference without opening it up.