[Mk2 NA] blown head gasket???

[wakey]

hi this is my 1st post..
ok i took my 1990 mr2 to the garage today because i had a serious water leak(leaking from around the water pump area)when engine is running.
The guy said he thought i had a blown head gasket.......but ive checked exhausts no white smoke and also oil filler cap no milky deposits, is there anything else i can do to check? only this is gonna hurt my pocket severly also its damn hard 2 see where the water is coming from as u r all probaly aware.
im a n00b at mechanics so any help would be great thnx.

[Gouda]

Compression test, if any of the pistons are low it's probably gone.

[speedtwelve]

My Rev 2 turbo was overheating on boost and blowing bubbles in the coolant. No steam in the exhaust or mayo in the oil. Was going to get a sniff test done to confirm exhaust gas in the coolant but hit on the idea of buying a £5 CO detector from Homebase and clamping that over the open coolant filler. Ran the engine for a couple of minutes and the detector had triggered big time. HG failure it is, then...