Rich Philpot

Thanks for the replies. It has been a while since I did a head gasket swap with the engine still in the car.  Is it best to remove the head with the manifolds attached, or leave them attached to the exhaust / throttle controls etc?

Well, flushed out the 948 rad again, more black stuff, this time a black oily film left on my hands etc with a 'rainbow' on the pool of water on the drive.  Refilled it (it had lost a couple of pints anyway) and revved it up without the cap on.  A large amount of greasy black froth appeared, so I'm guessing that the gasket has been bridged between an oilway and the water jacket.  thankfully, the oil looks OK (it was changed 200 miles ago) Going to bite the bullet and take the head off tomorrow.  I managed to pick up a NOS Payen head gasket set a couple of years ago, but I have two concerns ... - the head gasket is steel and there are one or two tiny rust spots on it - should I use it? - the workshop manual advises to coat the new head gasket in 'Wellseal' - what is this, how thickly should it be applied, and is there a modern equivalent product? Many thanks!

Dear all, Went to drain and refill the coolant in the 948 saloon this weekend, to find black sludge in the header tank.  The water was also pretty black too.  Is this a sign that there is a head gasket leak somewhere?  Otherwise, everything seems normal.  The engine doesn't appear to be getting too hot, there is no loss of coolant and no smoke from the exhaust. Any ideas? Cheers, Rich