I have one of these conditions on 2 cylinders on each side of engine

 

 

 

Yep, looks like a blown HG to me! Right between the cylinder and the coolant passage. That's pretty much how my HG looked after I blew it in my Toyota pickup. It slowly deteriorated over time though. One day I just started it up and drove it a few blocks, pretty slowly to the store. Got back in it and went to leave and all sorts of white smoke came out and it died. That sucked.

Here is what I found when I replaced my head gaskets.

 

 

 

I think the stated 8-10% "failure rate" of the 2.5 engines is extremely conservative. But thats my opinion. Yours could be wrong.

its actually about 15%, and yes thats your failure

 

nipper

Good illustration of a common failure.