need help with overheating 88 100q

[Stpndsmnn at aol.com]

Hi,

I have been driving a friends 88/89 100q for the past few days, thinking 
about possibly buying it for g/f as daily driver.   The car is in very good 
condition, everything works...  etc...

I was driving in downtown Portland traffic stop and go essentially....  after 
about 15 minutes I noticed that there was steam coming from under the hood.   
The temp gauge on the dash was only registering about half  and the fan was 
cycling on and off.  when I was able to pull over I lifted the hood and could 
hear water spraying somewhere by the bottom corner of the radiator by the 
engine but I couldn't see the  water coming out...  It sounds like the water pump 
went bad but it doesn't sound horrible.  It looks like the hoses are intact but 
the radiator appears to have seam seep, and the overflow bottle was empty.   
I also noticed that there was water coming out of the tail pipe but it wasn't 
really steaming and the oil appeared free from water...    Also the car has 
had a harder time with starting lately, it usually sputters and dies on the 
first try and the runs fine on the second try if it is given a little throttle..

I guess my question is how likely is it that that headgasket is also 
blown?...   Has anyone gone through anything similar??

Thanks for any help
Matt Kramer
83 CGT
85 4kq
81 diesel Jetta