Air bubbles in radiator.

[guest2893]

Hello everyone.  I have just stumbled across this forum while searching for info on a problem with my 2009 1.5 automatic Honda Jazz.
My problem is air bubbles in the radiator. if I remove the radiator cap and fit a tight fitting rubber pipe to the filler connected to a cut in half clear plastic bottle half filled with water there is an alarming amount of air bubbles visible. while revving the engine at around 2000 rpm there are constant very small bubbles then once I back off the accelerator there's a burst of much larger amounts of air ?
Honda garage tell me they want the car for 4 days to access if the head gasket is gone or not / sounds ridicules to me but their not the issue here. what I would like to know is .... is there a known problem with head gasket failure on the Honda Jazz ? my car has been driven sensibly from new and has been serviced at the required times. the car was bought in July 2009 and has covered 45,000 kms.
One last point is sometimes if the car is restarted about 10/15 minutes after stopping it the engine will not turn over. it is as if the engine is locked in compression ? it is not a battery problem as I never have this problem first thing in the morning it is only after leaving it about 10/15 minuets. if left longer there is no problem.  also when the engine is turned off there is a hiss from the left hand side of the engine looking at it from in front of the car. the hiss sounds to be about the head gasket level ? 
Thanks for any help you can give to this problem as apart from this the car has been very good and a pleasure to drive. 

[guest907]

I don't know if Jazz head gaskets are a problem generally...certainly the 5 I've had have never been a problem.

Having said that the symptoms you describe could be head gasket leak, coolant enters the cylinder then the engine 'hydraulics', cannot turn over to due water in the cylinder. If getting the spark plugs out was simple then this would be an easy way to test if it then turned over and the water could escape out the plug hole.

There are test kits available that will check if combustion gases are entering the coolant...draw a sample of coolant mixed with a test liquid which changes colour if gases present...sure sign of head gasket failure.