blown head gasket or other?

03 golf tdi 180k, timing belt by myself at 175k+ (number 15 or so in 25 years different cars)
Driving home from work, about 60-65, sudden loss of power, no combustion, white smoke, not oil smell.
My experience is that bad head gasket lets combustion chamber escape to coolant side and out burp tank. slight at first then more until one day the light comes on and I know what to do. this seemed to be all cylinders not just one fouling by itself. No evidence of coolant in oil.
Question...Is there potential upstream source that would dump into intake stream? cracked head?? a coolant port that goes thru the intake like good old v8 crossover???
We are all going to find out as soon as I get her home and and get the wrenches out. the car is at a friends house till this weekend.
I will let you know what happens.

Check for codes first, it could be fuel, when it's the gasket as you describe it's steam and it just disappears straight away as it evaporates into the atmosphere. A bad #3 lift sensor injector could also cause white smoke, pump fault etc so best check codes first.

Is the coolant disappearing? Excessive pressure in the tank? Any other things that make you suspect the head gasket?

when I cranked the starter, engine hot after the shut down, i got choking white billowing lots of white big smoke. smelled like glycol mist (not the diesel mist of cold start or poor injection timing). it cranked like it had typical compression but I surely hope didnt feel like a hydraulic lock situation. it felt like it wanted to fire on maybe one cylinder intermittently. typical is one bad other three run kinda thing. drove a dodge colt from monterrey mexico all the way to oklahoma once on 3 of 4 cylinders.
no detectable coolant loss prior to this event. coolant check showed normal level and no venting.
it will not start

Yup, you need to find a VCDS and get the real story on codes. And Seatman is also correct in needing a description of the white smoke. If it is unburned diesel, then the smoke lingers and dissipates slowly.

Also, if you have a VCDS, check the timing after verifying mechanical accuracy of the settings i.e. does the crank TDC line up when the cam is locked and the IP timing hole is visible in the slot?

ya know my vag com was in the back seat but laptop at home. ill get into it this weekend.
I do and will appreciate all the input and thank you all for taking the time.

that wasnt cool weather smoke either maybe 75 to 80 deg here ...F seatman not C

rustytigwire said:

.F seatman

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That sounds like an insult over here lol

Wow what a pain, all my suspects were innocent. The white smoke was unburned fuel but never smelled like it to me.
Ok then the inj pump must have slipped, sure nuff. lined it all back up, reset timing, cam shaft, inj pump. It ran great 10 miles and died again. MY GOODNESS how interesting yeh thats what i said.
The crank bolt was loose and by miracle was where it belonged the second time I set the timing, why me? Got a new crank pulley because the flat was pounded out of it, set it all up again, runs like a champ. I got real good at the timing setup geeez how many times? Never had one give me fits like this, my confidence has diminished
While I had the carcass open did egr cooler "ectomy" and egr valve gut and open.
runs great.....so far...

Mystery solved, Thanks for the support all

I would be removing the valve cover and examining the lifters VERY carefully after that incident.

what would you suggest I look for

rustytigwire said:

tell me more

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Seems to me if the crank sprocket slipped enough for it not to run there is a good chance of piston/valve contact. It doesn't take much, only a couple of tooth movement. Contact usually always shows up as spider cracked lifters. The valves under them have been damaged/impacted and can lead to the stems breaking off and dropping a valve head into the cylinder later on. This makes a huge mess.

I'll do that this evening as it makes quite a bit of sense and thanks heaps for the warning.
For what its worth when the shut down happened there was no detectable impact from the drivers seat and none when turning the motor by hand or when I spun it to start when it was still puzzling me to near tears. I
On ONE occasion (the AHA! moment) turning by hand did I feel valve piston contact.

rustytigwire said:

I'll do that this evening as it makes quite a bit of sense and thanks heaps for the warning.
For what its worth when the shut down happened there was no detectable impact from the drivers seat and none when turning the motor by hand or when I spun it to start when it was still puzzling me to near tears. I
On ONE occasion (the AHA! moment) turning by hand did I feel valve piston contact.

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You really need to check this out thouroughly. If piston/valve contact occurred the head needs to come off and be inspected and be refurbished. I only trust Frank w/TDI heads. Too many threads of disasters from most other sources. The valves that get impacted tend to function normally-for a while before they break w/o warning.