Dontoh

anything to worry about? came across my mind that it's just condensation mixin up with a bit of rust, but could it be anything serious? **** spits all over the back of my car

jus2phast4uLGT

same problem here...i'l keep lookin for the pro's to chip in..

MntlKase

Normally coolant tends to become a rust color when its old\dirty\contaminated. If it is in fact that coming out of ur exhaust you could possibly have a headgasket leaking coolant into your cylinders somewhere. Hence fix it soon!

BlackDeuceCoupe

That would be my 'best guess' too...

Gasoline produces a gallon of water, for every gallon burned.

Until your exhaust gets to normal operating temps, the water condenses and drips out the tailpipe.

In the old days, OEM muffs had a little pinhole on the bottom-side, and this condensation just dripped out on the pavement, before you ever saw it. But, I don't think they do that any more.

Anyway, my only concern would be... how much life is left in my rusted out mid-pipe, et cetera, before it breaks loose and is dragging under my ride?

That's probably not much of a concern. Just saying...

Dontoh

good info, good info.. i was told that my exhaust was ghetto rigged together by the old owner, so i'll check that out first.. hope its not the head gasket, although that would give me an excuse for a swap

98civdx

I would worry, no big deal.
Every car does it, but switch out that ghetto exhuast

AGENT_47

yeah don't be like me and wait for your entire exaust system to fall off right at the resonator at 3am in the rain on the highway at 90mph

Dontoh

lmao, bet that **** sucked.. guess i'm lookin into exhausts now.. should get the swap in gear! motivation, motivation, motivation lol

vtechjunkie

iTrader: (2)

Ya, I would think that it's the rust in the exhaust system, mixing with the normal moisture that usually builds up. If the car is running a bit wierd, or what-not, then I owuld look at the headgasket.

Dontoh

it does idle around 1500+\- for about 30 seconds then drops to around 1k and sputters like a bitch

Former User

Liquid water (condensation) dripping from the exhaust really should only be seen when the engine is not fully warmed up because when the engine and exhaust system are hot, water produced by combustion should be converted completely to water vapor (gas).

GoLowDrew

Correct. Just to add. However, exhaust is much hotter near the cat vs the tailpipe area. So, true. Water should burn off. But sometimes when it gets push way back and collects in the muffler, the exhaust does not get "that hot" enough to burn that much off right away.

It sits and collect. And when you WOT, it spits some of it out.

Dontoh

makes a lot of sense.. it hasn't been driven for close to 10 months, just in and out of the garage.. after i got the sound system working in it the rpms when idling dropped to around normal so i'm not too worried about that.. i'll give it about a week, if the liquid is still rust color that exhaust is going

Former User

I could see this happening, especially in cold weather or when the car is only driven on short trips where the exhaust system does not get fully heated for an extended period of time. Nonetheless, I think a properly working exhaust system should get hot enough during average drives to boil off any water that might pool in muffler. However, damaged exhaust systems, such as those being discussed in this thread, might be an exception to this generalization.