How does this head gasket look. And are the orange outlined areas supposed to be caked like that. 4.9 inline 6.

If you are thinking of reusing the head gasket, I would recommend against it, primarily for two reasons.

  • The silver compression rings, some times called "fire rings", are designed as a crush seal. As the head is tightened to the block the compression rings flatten to form a tight, even seal. (This is partly why head bolts have important tightening procedures) When removed, the rings maintain this compressed state. This means that upon re-installation the rings will not be properly compressed, and thus more prone to failure. Since they act like a crush washer, if it is reinstalled with the same torque procedure as with a new headgasket, the headbolts can become loose, or over stressed.

  • The orange areas on the gasket are drains for oil from the head, and for the passage of coolant. The larger 3/8" holes are related to oil, while the triangular and rectangular outlined ones are for coolant. The small holes in the coolant passages serve a critical purpose. As the coolant flows front-to-rear, or rear-to-front, it needs regulation. Without regulation the engine will be cold where the coolant first enters, and too hot where the coolant exits, thanks to Newton's law of cooling. If the holes are damaged or become too soft and collapse due to coolant contamination, this regulatory system may fail, leading to block warpage, and cylinder warpage from uneven cooling. This is especially important with engines that have many cylinders per bank (i-6, i-8, v-12). Finally, looking at the color of the coolant left on the gasket, it can be assumed the coolant is contaminated, and the cooling passages in the block and head are rusting/oxidizing, and could possibly be obstructed.

Take a look at the engine, make sure the coolant passages are clean, and ideally buy a new head gasket. The above is really only important for high performance applications. An overbuilt, underpowered GM motor will honestly be fine if you just slap the thing back together, it doesn't care haha. Ford 300 I-6, it gives no fucks.

Sorry for long post, and thanks for reading.

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