Gentlemen,
I just started getting getting an extra inch or two of oil on my dipstick, with little teeny tiny bubbles in it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> I don't suppose there's a market for "effervescent" used engine oil, is there?

Are you sure it's Don_W ? and not Don_H ??? (Tiny bubbles, in my oil...) oh sorry, I just realized, I ain't the least bit funny.

Seriously, that don't sound good.

Have you recently changed the oil and put on a new filter? Maybe there's a pinhole somewhere in it. (I would think you would notice a leak there first though).

Does the oil go "flat" after it sits overnight?

What's the coolant look like?

You know where I'm goin' with this, don't ya ?

I know EXACTLY where you're going....

The oil color is what it should be 2200 miles after I change it. Not like some newfangled Starbucks beverage... The coolant looks green.

It goes "flat" no bubbles after the engine cools off.

I ordered a new head gasket today, and noted the two previous posts, gratefully.

do you have any oil additives in in there? ie. Lucas Oil?

No. I use the Pennzoil high mileage oil, chnage it by the odometer every 3, 333 miles. I've been wondering if I can find someone local (Springfield, Va) who does oil analysis. Never done it before, but I'd assume they'd be able to tell me pretty easily if I've got coolant in there. Google hasn't really helped me find something...

I'd say that you would want the lab to be lookin' for excess combustion by-products... my guess (since you say the coolant is fine, and there's no "chocolate shake" in the oil, that IF you do have a head gasket leak, it's between the CC and the oil passages, not involving the coolant, if that's possible.)

How many miles on that gasket ?

I don't know of a lab near you, but you might wanna check out Blackstone labs. I would call them and ask if they could drop a sample kit in the mail for you, instead of requesting the kit online. You can take a sample in any container if you are looking to get that oil changed ASAP. Just use a clean tupperware container, you only need a few ounces, then when you get the kit, pour it in and send off.
Which reminds me, I need to mail out a sample myself! Been sittin' on the shelf for two weeks now.

Thanks,
As of yesterday, the coolant is no longer "fine". Boiled out the cap yesteday, appears to have a very small amount of oil in it. Head Gasket has 222,500 mimles on it. Pardon my lack of experience: Am I certain here that I have a bad head gasket? what else should I be checking?

When my head gasket went out, the coolant system overpressurised and boiled over in a similar fashion.

Also check for cracked or warped head (when the head is removed).

Just overheating could be simply a thermostat, but from your other symptoms I doubt it.

Good luck.

A compression test would be the simplest way to verify a head gasket problem. They rarely go bad without it being around one or more of the cylinders so a comp test should show you something.