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[photoman]

while driving steam shooting from all front vents then hot water through the dashboard down to the drivers footwell need advice urgent thanks

[Abiton]

Sounds very much like your heater matrix has developed a major leak.  Could, just possibly, be the point where the pipes join to it, rather than the matrix itself.

[photoman]

sounds expensive- is this a dash removal easy or hard long job to do thanks for the prompt reply --photoman

[Abiton]

The proper way to replace the matrix is complete dash removal, but there's a 'cheat 'way involving cutting some trim down in the driver's footwell, see here: http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1262554909

Even the cheat way isn't a particularly fun job I'm afraid. If you look at the very last picture in that thread, you'll see the point where the alloy pipes attach, not sure whether this can be seen by sticking your head, and a torch, as far as possible up the footwell.  It's easy to see in my pic because the backing plastic/foam behind the trim has been cut away and the vinyl peeled back.
Camera with flash might get you a shot of the area, even if you can't get your eyes in the right spot.

Did it overheat (max out on the temperature gauge) and then do this, or was it just the steam/coolant inside the cabin that you noticed?

[photoman]

yes it did max out -first i noticed the temp climing fast-then i thought the car was on fire this was before i noticed water cascading through the dash as i was on the motoway i quickly exited the estate and waited for the AA who towed me home as he could not repair or by pass the matrix owing to the connections he said- it was scarey as the hard shoulder was very narrow- i did when joining forum leave a heating probon board this could well be linked -thanks

[Abiton]

Hmm, in that case I think I'd be tempted to bypass the matrix for now (there's a how-to for removing the connections in the Maintenance Guide section).  then top up the coolant and run it up to temperature, see what happens.  A bit of copper pipe bent 180° might do for a temporary bypass pipe, get the diameter just right and the existing fittings may just go straight on.

Maybe you had significant coolant loss in the engine bay (HBV always a favourite) which caused the temperature to go way up, the coolant then boiled and overpressurised, rupturing the matrix.  :-/

In your shoes I'd want to be fairly confident that it was 'just' the matrix at fault before starting on replacement.

Good luck.