News flash. It already has.

No. At least, not yet. The car very recently went through emissions inspection (in order to get it titled and licensed in Alaska) and the technician said it was very nearly the cleanest-running car he had ever tested. Levels of CO, CO2, and hydrocarbons were running at 1%--5% of the allowable amounts -- in other words, the car could have been running 20 to 100 times "dirtier" and still passed.

[i..]...if you have coolant leaks into your oilways...

There is no oil contamination. At least, not yet.

..so all they do is fail to operate, not fail completely.

They're operating (see first paragraph, above). I may have overstated the severity of the problem. If it is a head gasket (not certain but likely) it is probably leaking into an exhaust port, not into a cylinder (which would over-pressurize the cooling system, cause coolant leaks and overheating just as schofiel said) nor into an oil gallery which would cause very unhappy things to happen with every bearing in the engine but would also be immediately evident from brown, foamy sludge on the dipstick and oil filler cap.

Since the coolant loss is minimal on a long, sustained trip (perhaps half a quart in 3000 miles in which the engine was never allowed to cool) but is considerable on a series of short distance trips (perhaps a quart in 30 10-mile trips) I suspect the problem occurs only when the engine is not at operating temperature -- maybe five or six minutes a day total.

I'll have it looked at next week (he has to finish my wife's car first) to find out just what the bad news is. I mean, it could always be a loose clamp on a heater hose, right?

Yeah. Right.... And the check is in the mail, too. :-(

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"