G'day guys,
I've just been out in the garage and I ran my CA18 for about 5 mins, giving it a bit of a rev and what not. Anyway afterwards I noticed a large wet sort of steamy mark on the garage floor under the dump tip of the exhaust(It points at the ground). It seems a fair bit of moisture is coming out in the exhaust. Does this sound like a headgasket? I sincerely hope not but I don't know any history of the engine what so ever.

I just thought I'd add that the engine is rough when cold but runs well when warm.

Quote:

This sounds normal to me.
Any car makes water vapor in the exhaust when it is cold and is busy warming up.
I may be wrong but what happens is with combustion there is a little water vapor in the gases that comes out of the exhaust.
With the exhaust pipe still being cold at the back it condences on the cold pipe as the gases escape at the back and then it forms water.
Just to be save, open the oil filler cap and check if it does'nt look like brown sludge in there. This is normally water mixing with oil = head gasket.
Also check the radiator fluid for brownish sludge color. Is also maybe gasket then.
Water mixing with oil and oil mixing with water.

This is a bit encouraging cheers!

I just went and check then. The oil is quite clean which is good. The water however seems to have a tiny little bit of an oily slick on the top of it. It's kinda hard to tell though because I only have water(not coolant) in there because I'm not driving the car around yet, and may have to pull the radiator out again.

The water is a rusty colour, I assume this is just from the water galleries in the motor being filthy and it just needs a good flush.

Sounds normal to me.

NO. It is not sick.

The engine shouldn't be rough when cold. The cold air bypass valve (Idle Valve) could be stuffed, this is fairly common on turbo CA18s.
Might also be that the intake tract might be a bit dirty, clean Airflow meter with Carby cleaner. And then clean and wipe around the throttle body, and then if it's still no good pull off the idle control valves (AAC/FICD) attached to the plenum (above injectors) and clean it out, and lubricate it before replacing it. Be careful with the gaskets.

Chris

Let it run for a while mate then pull all the plugs out and get someone to crank it over for you and see if any water comes out.Also check the plugs to see if there wet or really clean which would indicate water in the cylinder.If you have access to a preassure pump it up to about 15-20psi if there is no water pissing out off any hose and the guage starts to drop youve got a blown gasket which is common on ca18det's .Hope this helps and good luck