760 GLE V6 head gasket?

[w261w261]

The following just happened to this otherwise-nice 1985 121k car. My wife and oldest son said that it had "gotten hot" (uh-oh), and they had added antifreeze but it had used it up shortly, complete with steaming, etc. It's cold here in CT so I have limited ability to work on the car, but a quick inspection revealed that the bottom radiator hose had been abraded by the pulley/belt of the power steering pump, chewing a small hole in the hose, which lost fluid. Additionally, lying on the works down there was a small saucer-shaped piece of plastic with what remained of a piece of tubing attached to it...the tube was sliced rudely off also. This piece came off the bottom of a canister-next to an airbox down low on the front left. That airbox has a damper of some kind in it...I don't think it's worked for awhile, but the car has always run fine w/o it. The piece that lost its bottom looks to be some kind of emissions canister.

Anyway, back to the problem. I replaced the radiator hose, but when the car starts, as soon as the water begins to warm the pressure pumps up very high...the top hose is rock hard. I took out the thermostat, but no change. It sounds to me like I have a small hole in the head gasket, which is letting the pressure pump up from the combustion chamber, but is not big enough to let fluid in. I have not been able to remove a plug to check for that clean look, as it's too cold, and getting at the plugs in the V6 is a pain.

If the gasket is the problem, I'm not going to pay for a traditional fix. The car isn't worth it. But, looking at the "magic potion" products, all of which seem to cost about $75, they seem to be pretty emphatic that they will work in the vast majority of cases. A couple of them say you have to absolutely flush out all the anti-freeze before using, but one says it can be used with the 50-50 mix (it does say for overpressure situations to try to drop the coolant level and disconnect the injector wire on the offending cylinder).

Anyone used these products before? Does my pressure problem sound like a head gasket? I did see the post about getting a new coolant reservoir cap, but I don't think that alone could be the issue. And, any ideas on why the power steering pulley did its mischief on the lower hose. It doesn't seem to be moving axially . If it were summer, I guess I'd disconnect the top and bottom of the radiator and see if it were blocked somehow. I was thinking if that were the case that the bottom hose might be collapsed by the water pump suction, letting it get flat and them maybe it would reach the pulley (it is quite close).

Thanks.