mister munkey wrote:Banging my head against a wall on this one after sifting through similar posts trying to make sense of whats happening in mine.
IF head gasket has given up - How come no white exhaust smoke/steam?
I'm no expert on this but is it possible the gasket fault is one that is allowing an oil gallery to connect with a water gallery, whilst the compression seal itself is still intact? This might cause crankcase pressure to push air (+oil, and you have traces of that) into the coolant system, whilst none enters the pots. If this is what has happened, it suggests maybe that the top of the block was not flatted off (as Simon Jones stresses the importance of) sufficiently, leaving the gasket insufficiently compressed/bound in a local area.
This is all conjecture by a non-techie person though so it would be interesting to see what Dandywarhol, Simon Jones et al had to say.
It is possible - if the above is true - that (a little bit of good news) the head may be OK and what is required is new gasket (and head bolts) plus a though flatting of both block and (now) head, and whatever else might help to ensure that the gasket is well gripped (and evenly) between head and block, once bolts have been torqued down.
The consequences of oil contaminating the coolant system might need evaluating too, though I can't immediately think of what those might be except for some emulsification (look for signs of it), which might impair circulation in e.g. the radiator matrix (but which should be removable by flushing with a strong hot detergent mix).
Bl**dy nuisance it all is though
) who think they know about cars when they don't 
- mechanics pride and all that, if he did the earlier job but isn't a Bongo guru.
