How to tell if headgasket has water leak

[xirdneh]

With cold engine remove radiator cap and top off with water, leave cap off
Rotate crank by hand (19mm socket and thin top ratchet)
watch the water as you rotate, it should not move.
if it pushes water out there is leak

i blew headgasket a few days ago
lucky for me i was less than a mile from home
initially i thought water had leaked out via a hose (had two leaks recently)
i added water while engine was idling but it just blew it right back out

so i did some experimenting hence the above test and the following one
when i hooked an air compressor up to a (removed) spark plug hole it blew water out of the radiator

and one more thing
i removed all 4 plugs and they looked normal
i thought for sure there would be something to clue me in

[Petros]

remember to check out your whole cooling system when you replace the head gasket, just to make sure it is operating properly so you do not blow the new replacement gasket. Good luck.

It used to be a standard test if you had low compression in one cylinder to connect a fitting to the spark plug hole and put compressed air into the cylinder. If you heard air coming out the exhaust, it was a bad exhaust valve, if you heard it coming out the intake, it was a bad intake valve, and if you had bubbles coming out the radiator means it has a bad head gasket. It is called a "leak down test".