Deere 345 Trouble

[nilfarmer]

I recently purchased a later model Deere 345 Garden tractor. It has the FD611V engine. It was lower houred (540) and was in good cosmetic condition. When I purchased it smoked a bit, but owner said it was because it was sitting for a few days. I did fresh maintenance -oil, filters, etc., when I got home.

After running it for a few hours I am having the following issues. Burning about 1/4 quart of oil and 1/2 quart of coolant over the 3 hours. It smokes on startup, but isn't as noticeable after, but still some smoking. Smoke has a bluish white tint.

Did a compression test and both cylinders are at 120 psi. Did a leakdown test and left (thermostat side) is at 12% and right is near 0%. Left spark plug is cleaner than right. When I did leakdown test on left cylinder, oil came out of dipstick/fill hole.

Question: Would all problems be coming from left side head gasket? Could gasket be blown between cylinder and valve push rods thus causing the oil consumption and the oil coming out when pressurized with air?

I plan on tearing down soon. I am planning to do left side head gasket, as well as, valve cover gaskets and valve seals on both cylinders.
Any help is appreciated.

 

[RandyT]

Blown head gasket can blow between cylinder wall and push rod cavity. As well as the cylinder and water jacket around cylinder and head.