Head gasket??

[Grazer]

Just gave the car the once over, seems there was no water at all in the car.
Filled it up, started it and it appeared to be running on 3 cylinders.
Then, noticed water coming out of the exhaust.

I guess the head has gone?? 

[Leon R]

Don't assume the worst just yet!

Fill the car up and bleed the system properly, its really cold so water/steam coming out of the exhaust is normal for a few mins or until your car is at temperature.

Prior to when you found this misfire was the car running ok?

You may have 2 seperate problems one being a coolant leak and one being a misfire and the only way to tell is to carry out a compression test.

Hope it isn't too bad.

[Grazer]

1.It had the high running problem due to the PB carb.
2.Had an oil pressure fault that caused the sender to spew out oil.
3.A fair amount of water seems to be coming out of one the exhaust joints (another new problem)

I had a potential buyer for the car this weekend too 

[nealey]

Rule out other possibilities first before condeming the h/g.

As said get the compression checked and garages have a thing called a block tester that can check for head gasket problems, get these checked first and you should know if the gasket is faulty or not then

the water coming out of the exhaust joint could be what has already been mentioned and is only condensation build up in the exhaust, a lot of cars do this so it may not be anything related and nothing to worry about

[Grazer]

I had the car running before checking and adding the water  :embarassed: but after topping up the water the running problem started.
So, because I don't know how long the car ran without water/coolant, I would have assumed it was the head gasket.

[Ben Lessani]

deffo needs a compression test, testers can be picked up most places from £10, and a very worthwhile tool in your box, i've used mine more than its worth. check the obvious, for water to be coming out the exhaust its extremely unlikely to be coolant - otherwise the engine simply wouldn't run, that will just be condensation.

you should be looking at an even spread of about 11-14 bar across the cylinders, if one cylinder differs by more than 2 bar from the other, retest, then if still no joy, put just less than a teaspoon of oil into the spark hole and crank the engine again with the tester in, that will check the rings are sound.

the obvious like creamy oil on the dipstick would be your telltale, check all the plugs are sparking and the dizzy is seated right too