) burining coolant smells "sweet" (similar to the unique smell of charcoal lighter fluid burning)- burning oil smells "sour" (like burning oil hehehe)
If the smoke is from coolant burning, then you probably got a bad head gasket going on in there...
However, if you've verified that the smoke is indeed from oil burning, then there are only 3 ways it can be getting into the combustion chamber of a running engine:
1) piston ring blow-by
2) worn valve guides
3) it's being sucked in through a vacuum leak that has access to an external oil leak (like maybe a bad intake gasket that is sucking oil from a leaky valve cover above it)
Number 3 is easy to verify, or to rule out- just look for external oil leaks around potential intake vacuum sources
A compression test can help you (and Craig) determine whether it may be number 1 or 2:
A) good compression (110psi+) across all 6 cylinders means that the rings are probably sealing ok, and the smoke is probably from valve seals
B) Bad (below 100PSI), or sporadic compression readings from cylinder to cylinder, mean the rings may be suspect. (weak or sporadic compression might also mean that you have bad valve seats, which won't necessarily mean oil consumption, but will add evidence that the engine is just old and tired.
Also- Pay attention to WHEN it smokes:
a cold engine that blows blue smoke until it gets hot, and then the smoking declines as the engine gets hotter, is indicative of worn valve guides (if it's burning coolant, it might also exhibit this symptom).
a cold engine that blue-smokes under throttle load, and still blue-smokes under load, even as the engine gets hotter, is indicative of bad rings.
Good luck.
