story in short:

driving on highway.
CEL pops on.
temp guage topped out.
pull over.
coolant all over the place.
towed car to Firestone.
replaced radiator and lines (thanks bastard who sold me car without mentioning that stopleak was the onlything holding radiator together)

firestone also mentioned that there was only a quart of burnt oil left in the car. not good since I just changed oil recently

drove back to parents' house an hour away.
coolant all over the place again.
bubbles blowing into the bottom of the reserve tank while engine running.
line from radiator cap to reserve tank cap blown off from pressure.
quote from firestone on phone "Well that sure doesn't sound right"
Its at a Honda dealer now. they guessed head gasket from the description.

My question: would a blown head gasket be the cause of the bubble weirdness or would the bubble weirdness be a symptom of Firestone screwing up the radiator install?

 

A blown head gasket could pump a lot offuel&air/exhaust into your cooling system. It would also explain your cooked oiland lack there of.

 

that's the problem all right. Now I just have to decide whether to tow it back to Milwaukee and swap it, try to fix it in Michigan, or sell it as-is to a Michigander. Boy I love good options....

 

It's $500 or so to have a Honda dealer replace the head gasket.