Saab: 2001 Saab 9 5 Turbo smoking issues, head gasket problem, head gaskets

Question
Hello, I just purchased a 2001 Saab 9 5 Turbo, it is the 4 cylinder engine. I purchased this from a friend and he will stand by it but I would like to help him find out what is wrong.

When I bought the car it was smoking a little bit when started and idling but the previous owner (a mechanic) had just replaced the O ring and we thought it was just oil burning off. On the first test drive the car ran fine but due to there being low gas I didn't push it (or use sport mode at all).

Once we put gas into it I started to use sport mode, to test it out, upon accelerating from 0-60 (I didn't floor it but gradually pushed the accelerator to the floor to test power.) upon reaching 70 the car lurched and stopped shifting as if it was hitting a rev limiter and was in top gear (it is an automatic). Immediately it started to leave a huge trail of white smoke from the exhaust. I let off the gas as soon as I felt the car not shifting I drove it easy just down the road to my home and parked it (less than a half mile).

It now smokes much more on idle and start up, and it seems to start harder where it needs to turn over several times to start.

There is no smoke coming from the engine and from what I can tell it is not making any abnormal noises.

I am curious if this could be a failed O ring, or if the valve system might have an issue. Lastly I am concerned it may be a problem with the turbo. Any insight into common issues with these models would be a great help to us. Thanks in advance.

Answer
Justin: As noted in my profile, my hands on experience is limited to the older non-turboes. However, I can give you some general advice:

When you see exhaust smoke, color matters:

Black = fuel problem, usually misfiring or too rich a mixture
Blue/grey = oil burning
white = cooling system, steam, (usually caused by a head gasket problem)(which would also explain hard starting).Often head gaskets "go" at times of maximum stress (as after a long high speed run)

You did not state where the o-ring is located so I cannot comment on that.

 Sounds like you have a head gasket problem.

  Hope this helps,
         Jerry