JMichaels

My wife has a 1999 Forester with high mileage (100,000 -- mostly highway miles). A few months ago, she noticed she was losing oil at about a quart a week, but no oil on the driveway, even when the engine was idling. No smoke, either. She took it to dealer who replaced valve cover gasket. Now she still has oil loss, but also has some white smoke and a "burning smell" from the engine compartment. Engine also runs rough. I suggested she obtain a full engine diagnosis from dealer, which she went to do, but they did not seem to run any tests. It seems they just looked at it. They said tearing the engine down to find the problem would be as expensive as installing a used engine. As some one who worked on my own cars about 20 years ago, it seems to me they shoukd have run some basic tests, like a compresion test and oil pressure test, to try to pinpont the problem. I also understand that today's cars are highly computerized and that it should be fairly stratightforward to diagnose the problem precisely. Am I wrong? Please advise. Sounds to me like the dealer's mechanic may be incompetent. Thanks. JMichaels Tampa, Florida