White oily sticky coolant

My brother has an 09 Element that over heated about a week ago. He called me when it happened and the coolant looked like both I had seen before.  It was like a white oily foam, a lot thicker that it should be. 

He got it it towed to a shop and here is what they said.  They found no evidence of a blown HG so they flushed the engine and put in a new radiator but the coolant is still doing the same thing.  Here is what it looks like:

The shop will not warranty the work because they say they can’t get all of the “gunk” out.  

Any my ideas as to what is going on?  My first thought was to do some more flushing but the fact the shop can’t clean it out worries me a bit. 

If that's not a headgasket, it's a cracked head or a cracked block.  That is mos def oil mixed with coolant.

Agreed, time for a leakdown test.

Duke said:

If that's not a headgasket, it's a cracked head or a cracked block.  That is mos def oil mixed with coolant.

Totally agree.  How did this "mechanic" check the engine?

Pull some of the foam out and let it settle.  Do I see a red tinge on the pan?  Trans coolers can break.  Maybe see if the trans fluid looks pink.  If so, flush it now, hard and often, since antifreeze breaks down the glue that holds the clutch lining on.

If it's brown, most Honda's have an engine oil cooler as well.

Don't pick on the shop too much.  That stuff is a cast iron bitch to clean out of a cooling system.  It is also super hard to be confident in where something like that comes from without serious disassembly sometimes.

The million dollar question- did it heat up because the cooling system is full of goo, or did it overheat and now the cooling system is full of goo? 

I asked my brother to find out how the shop determined the motor is ok and have not gotten an answer yet. 

He bought it about a month ago from a big Toyota dealer in the area without telling me.  He said the dealer put a new radiator in and the car was sold As Is which worries me.   

The tube on the cap of the overflow tank was blown off so the night it happened I was thinking head gasket so was surprised when the shop said the motor was OK  

I am going to go with him to the shop tomorrow and try to see what is going on.  

Go to autozone and borrow that kit to test for exhaust gases in the coolant. You put it on the radiator opening and and run the car, if it changes colors you have a leaky hg or cracked head. 

Takes 5 minutes. 

So an update.  Went with my brother to the shop and talked with the guy working on the car.  They did compression and leak down test, that was why they say the motor is good.  They spent two days flushing the motor and then put a new radiator in it, there is still a little bit of the gunk that ends up in the top of the radiator but the rest of the coolant is good.

Slippery, took your suggestion and got a block tester, followed the instructions and it did not show any exhaust in the coolant.  One thing my brother neglected to mention to me was that he took the car to Jiffy Lube for an oil change a day or so before this happened.  According to him they topped up the coolant also so maybe that had something to do with what happened, or either the PO or the dealer put some stop leak in it and it took a month for it to mess up the coolant?  I have no idea, but he has been driving it since Tuesday afternoon with no issues so thanks for the help.

If all is well, I would do a radiator flush.  Can be done i the privacy of your own home, cheap to do, gets rid of schmegma.

Once the coolant is happy and clean, if the ooze comes back, someone's diagnosis is incorrect.

If the problem comes back, perhaps another possibility could be some heat exchanger leaking. Does this car have an oil-to-water cooler anywhere?

Both myself and the owner of the shop told my brother to keep an eye on things.  As far as heat exchangers go, I dont know if it has an oil-to-water cooler, I know jack crap about Hondas.