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[shanks31]

Just wanted to get some people opinion on this. here is a list of the few things going on with the car and some comments

Car has had a small leak on the radiator sidetank for a few months. Nothing too major, just topping off the fluid every 7-10 days.

Car has not overheated since i have owned it

rough cold start with almost no power at all. after a 5-10 seconds the car smooths out

once the car warms up to full operating temp, it feels like the car is pulsating forward when letting off the brakes and before pressing on the gas. been like this for a few weeks, but finally just threw codes p0300 and p0305. dash and cabin lights flicker as well.

no noticable excess smoke out of the tailpipe, but its hard to tell with the cold temps and short trips recently

Last week there was the milky residue on the oil cap and a small amount on the dipstick, however, when I ran the car for a longer period ~30 minutes at highway speeds, the milkiness went away. Since this is the case i just assumed it was moisture buildup from all my short trips every day in the car.

Just noticed the upper radiator hose was pretty stiff after getting home tonight from work.

I have not had time to do a compression test, but I checked all my coils and none of them looked cracked or too worn. The car just cracked 142K but maintenence has always been kept pretty much up to date.

I'm hoping its not a HG failure, but what am i looking at cost wise if it is? parts/ labor hours.

Any other thought as to what might be the issue?

[Ihatespeedbumps]

Running poorly while cold is a symptom of badly cracked coils. Given that you've stored some misfires, it's time to start with replacing those. If your sure the engine has never been hot, the HG is probably fine. To double check for HG failure you can remove the coolant reservoir cap and see if it gushes like ol' faithful when you start the car or use a combustion leak checker (much better to diagnose with)

Get your radiator fixed!