“Last night I dumped out the sludgy brown coolant that’s only been in there since June, flushed with water, ran some Holts Radflush through, flushed again, then refilled with fresh coolant. To be fair to the sludge, it’s basically been a 2,000 mile flush and de-crud, as the car’s only pootled about locally for years before I got it. The coolant boiling over at the weekend probably worked a bit like kettle descaler, I guess 
Better to have clean stuff in there anyway I reckon, as it can only help with the cooling system until I get an electric fan found and fitted.”
Well, that was two months ago. Before going over to France at the weekend, I picked up a new head gasket, as I thought that’d be the only thing that’d really scupper me if it went whilst we were away. Just been out for my lunch and when I parked up back in the car park I noticed a small trail of drips following the arc of my reversing. Popping the bonnet showed that the leak has just got worse and its then dripped its watery-oily cocktail onto the rotaty bits at the front and splattered all over the bay 
I’m guessing the head gasket has finally lunched itself, (better here than in France though), so – if I’m taking the head off to replace it, what else do I need to get the job done? New head bolts, valve seals, anything else, or can it all be re-used?
Will it be alright to get me the five miles home if I check levels before I leave and take it slow and steady, or should I be phoning the man with the van? 
EDIT: 08/08/07 20:10 Topped up the oil and water before leaving work, which is thankfully just a quiet 15 minute trip. Temperature was fine all the way, and checking the front of the block just after switching off the engine meant I could now actually see the oily water seeping out of the front corner 
Browsing t’internet at the minute for a shopping list of bits I’ll need – as there’s no rush, I might see if anyone local has got an unleaded injection head for a reasonable price 