I just had a new radiator put in my 96 Legacy. Because it's been using oil I asked them to check that out too. They performed a leak down test with results of cylinder 1 at 15%, cylinders 2 and 3 at 10% and cylinder 4 at 8% and stated they found everything in good condition. I didn't really understand those results but I did enough research to determine that those numbers mean that it's not likely the rings or the head gasket which is good. They said that it is possible that the valve seals are leaking internally to the tune of about $2000 to fix.
So my question is that given they didn't say it's definitely that, how likely is it to be that and is it worth doing? I don't mind paying it if it fixes the problem and will prevent further damage but don't really want to pay to have something done that may or may not fix the issue.
Right now I'm putting in one quart about every 1.5 weeks given about 600-700 miles driven per week. There is no visible oil puddle under the car where I park it so it is not an external leak, and there is a bit of smoke when it's started cold that only lasts a few minutes. The smoke does not have a blue appearance to me, but is more of a light to medium grey.
So my question is that given they didn't say it's definitely that, how likely is it to be that and is it worth doing? I don't mind paying it if it fixes the problem and will prevent further damage but don't really want to pay to have something done that may or may not fix the issue.
Right now I'm putting in one quart about every 1.5 weeks given about 600-700 miles driven per week. There is no visible oil puddle under the car where I park it so it is not an external leak, and there is a bit of smoke when it's started cold that only lasts a few minutes. The smoke does not have a blue appearance to me, but is more of a light to medium grey.