Intermittent Power loss- please not head gasket?!

[Deanna]

So, in addition to currently needing to replace ball joints, upper control arms, tie rod ends and my clutch master cylinder, now my 82 240d has thrown this at me.

This morning my biodiesel jelled- it got cold quickly and I didn't have it blended high enough w/ diesel. I was late for a meeting, so I tried to start it a couple of times anyway and killed the battery. Warmed it up, got it jumped and got on the road.

Tonight, driving around in a city, it kept losing power in lower gears, or stopping altogether when in idle. As problems do, it only got worse. On the 2 hour ride home, it was completely intermittent- running fine one minute, losing power to the point of shutting down the next (especially when going uphill).

So, my secret is that I've also been mysteriously losing coolant, a sign of a head gasket leak. Does this behavior confirm my suspicions? If not, what is it? Something as simple as air in the system? I already tried the air filter- that's not it.

I would appreciate any advice or simply encouragement to keep this crazy-ass car.

Thanks guys.