Suddenly burning a lot of coolant

[pdiso]

Starting this past Saturday my 74 '02 suddenly began spewing large amounts of white smoke while the coolant level rapidly dropped. I was about 80 miles from home when it happened so I stopped every so often to refill the coolant. I got stuck in traffic about 10 minutes from home and the car overheated. Otherwise the temp gauge had been around 50%.

From everything I've seen on this forum and other places this most likely means a blown head gasket or cracked head. I really like it to be neither. Prior to now I had occasionally seen small whisps of smoke while accelerating but never anything major. I had though that might have been a valve issue. Anyway these could be related?

The car has seen a good amount of miles over this past summer, probably more than it has seen in a long time, I've had the car for a little under a year now. Other than the smoke everything else seems to be running quite well.

Is the head gasket a good assumption? What should I do next? Compression test?

thanks everyone,

Paul

[c.d.iesel]

compression test

cylinder leak test

cooling system pressure test

watch out for coolent pumping out of

the spark plug holes while cranking!

remove head

pressure test head, check for warpage

on surface plate

service head - or replaces head as needed,

service valves, guides as needed, inspect

rocker arms and shafts

just in time to put it away for winter - plenty

of time to do it right

[Napes]

This tip is a little late, but if it ever happens again, in order to limp home, do not replace the radiator cap. This will alieviate some of the coolant-system presure and will reduce the rate of coolant loss.

Bob Napier