Water p1ssing out erratic idle.

Hi, broke down today! Steam was coming from the bonnet of my 1.8 freelander and revs were erratic at idle, I pulled over and found the water tank empty so refilled it and 3 minutes later it all came ****ing out from the right hand side of the engine area below the airbox? Water appeared to be coming from the lower water pipe which might indicate its only a split pipe but starting to think it could be the head gasket!

The temp gauge was still bang in the middle when I saw the steam to which might be that it never actually overheated and it was just steam from the leak onto the manifold.

Cant understand why the revs would go so erratic either, this happened a few miles before I saw the steam to.

Inlet manifold gasket
Thermostat
Leaking water pump or pipe or cracked tank or rad, etc
Head gasket

Head gasket my choice

fanatic said:

Inlet manifold gasket
Thermostat
Leaking water pump or pipe or cracked tank or rad, etc
Head gasket

Head gasket my choice

Click to expand...

The leak is coming from the lower water pipe below the airbox, is this where the thermostat is located? I'm hoping split pipe or could be thermostat if located there.
There is no mayo like stuff in the oil or oil in the water but this week I have had problems filling the oil after a full change including filter, the dip stick was reading as though I had overfilled it even when I drained load out! I wonder if this was water getting in?