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You’ve missed the point of the HG blowing @Checkerboard Comet - it’s the next chapter, not the end! Time to EJ it! You will fall in love with it again!! Cheers Bennie

Got them on. Just barely had a little time to go down the road. Definitely stiff but much better than the bottoming out pillows that were on there. Should be able to drive it more tomorrow. Taking the kids to a corn roast today and hopefully they will be worn out

If yours are like my 05 wagon( no reason it shouldn't), it's a fixed nut. No reason that 12mm should break. But Murphy rears its head at odd times.. Poly bushings are better and don't forget the lube. O.

Yes, on a first refill, there will be some trapped air that has to work out. Even with a 100% good system, it can take a few drive cycles to get rid of all of the air. The key is instant steady - but it can even be very slow - stream, or just never stops. If you get to where it isn't bbubbling from a start, idleing, etc. Re check after a short drive. Don't open the cap, only watch for the bubbles in the overflow at this point. When you open the cap, you let in air. Going forward, before each drive, check the level in the overflow, AND squeeze the upper radiator hose and listen for gurgling and the jiggle pin in the thermostat. Note the sounds, and look for less gurgling each time, if everything is well sealed.

heres a video of my rig with a non sealing home made headgasket you can clearly see bubbles in the radiator take the cap off when its cold top off the radiatorvand squeese the hose a few times then run the engine if you have a bad head gasket it will look like this

Miles don't kill headgaskets, overheat while low on coolant does. Temperature cycles do seem to wear them / limit life. The most common sign of hg failure beginning is small continuous supply of bubbles out the overflow tube into the tank. Sometimes, you might get a seep to the outside. The bottom edge is the oil return passage, no coolant passages down there. You might be lucky, since you saw no bubbles with the test run. Sometimes they survive, but not usually.

As someone who writes vehicle operator's manuals for a living, this could have happened for 1,000 different reasons.