Yes, the gasket may be faulty :
I would try to remove the "calorstat" before, it may be because it's faulty. If it does not open fully, on idling regime you got insufficient coolant flow and the water boils. Once it boils, there is steam on the thermocontact instead of water and so it does not close anymore. On the road, you get air from running and more coolant pressure due to higher motor regime : The problem does not occur.
Problem is, if the gasket ("joint de culasse") is leaking, combustion gas gets in the water circuit, which leads to the same symptoms (although in that case it should also happen on road). A friend of me had that very same symptoms on a relatively old R19. He tried a lot of things (purge cold, purge hot, use water-circuit cleaning fluid, totally renew coolant, change thermo-contact thinking it was not broken but lazzy, changed the "calorstat" believing it did not open enough). Never was the problem solved.
Finally he went to the mechanic. The "joint de culasse" was replaced and voilà, problem was gone.
good luck !
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Kangoo 1.6 16V BVA - GPL Landi Renzo
RVLV made in Planète Renault
Caravane Esterel Pliante rigide (1982!)