General fire engine head and block face

[wish i had a big garage]

was wondering if anyone had stripped any engines and found a brownish/blackish sealant like residue on the head and block face? things look like they have never been moved on this engine before.just unusal that everything seem plastered in it.head and block are all ok after cleaning and head has no warpage.didnt think sealants were ideally used on head and block faces.

 

[kolza]

Like this?

 

[andyholli]

Looks like rusty muck in the cooling channels. - I'd say typical for an engine that possibly hasn't had its coolant renewed as often as it would like resulting in corrosion of the steel in contact and that mushy rust is what you get..

 

[Dragon Man]

drop the old coolant, refill with clean(pureish) water, drop a dish washer tablet or 2 in the header tank, go for a nice long drive, drop water, flush, flush, .... flush, replace with new coolant, enjoy clean coolant system. profit?

 

[wish i had a big garage]

it was over the entire face of the head and block.very little was over where the fire rings of the gasket sealed to head and block.you could pick it away with your finger nails.the head gasket had not even failed i just wanted to remove the head to do valves and change all seals.ive changed gaskets on fiats and all sorts of engines but never seen this before.