My father and I picked up an 86 944 Turbo as a project car off eBay. The previous owner failed to tell us about its terrible engine status.

Compression numbers came out to around 125-135 for all cylinders, on a cold engine. It won't run well enough to warm up. Rough idle and a tooth broken off of the starter gear atrribute to this.

The last time my father had it running, he said it was burning white smoke, which would also lead me to believe antifreeze is making its way into the cylinders. Does all of this point to a blown head gasket? How involved is a head gasket job on the Turbo engine?

Thanks,
Matt.

 

Yup, a head gasket sounds like the culprite if coming out of the exhaust. 13 hour job, and you should plan on doing the timing and balance shaft belts, rollers, and waterpump at the same time.