Why does my exhaust always blow water out? Beyond condensation.....

[Skull-1]

This car eats exhaust pipes like nobody's business.  I realize fully heated exhaust pipes will create condensation as they cool but this is unreal and always has been.   The exhaust system winds up rotting out from it.

Is there anything to help that?   Weepholes perhaps?  Or do we just deal with it?   This set is stainless steel and I see rust on the inside.  Plenty of metal left but for next time.....

Interestingly, my 1992 Buick is still on its original exhaust after 400k miles.....  Makes me think it is the material used not the condensation.

[A383Wing]

how far are you driving it? Short trips not allowing the engine to get all the water & condensation out of the pipes will be a problem if it's not getting completely hot.

My Mom has a 92 Mazda with less than 60K on the odometer, I have had to replace 3 mufflers & one middle exhaust pipe over the last 10 years now because she never drives it enough to get the water out.

Also, when the fuel is burnt in the combustion chamber, it makes a small amount of water into the exhaust.

[Skull-1]

how far are you driving it? Short trips not allowing the engine to get all the water & condensation out of the pipes will be a problem if it's not getting completely hot.

My Mom has a 92 Mazda with less than 60K on the odometer, I have had to replace 3 mufflers & one middle exhaust pipe over the last 10 years now because she never drives it enough to get the water out.

Also, when the fuel is burnt in the combustion chamber, it makes a small amount of water into the exhaust.

I could drive it clear across Texas.   Same issue.  Distance never seems to matter.   It will clear all the water out and then....on the next start....it is dripping until it fully heats up.     It is bizarre.   The car has always been this way.  It had single exhaust originally but my old man switched it over to dual    Maybe that's part of it.   ??

[fy469rtse]

Are you topping up radiator regularly , if using a lot of water, start investigating possible causes, is it getting any water or coolant in oil ?
Steel heads, have head bolts been torqued, checked down to torque settings ?

[Skull-1]

Are you topping up radiator regularly , if using a lot of water, start investigating possible causes, is it getting any water or coolant in oil ?
Steel heads, have head bolts been torqued, checked down to torque settings ?

It is nothing like that.  Car has never had coolant leak issues.  Engine has been rebuilt twice now.  No difference.  I never have to add coolant.   It runs great.  I wonder if the exhaust is cooling by the time it exits the pipes and creating water vapor.  Or else it gets so hot that it generates a lot of condensation while cooling down and thus I will always have the issue.

[Back N Black]

Gasoline is made up of carbon and hydrogen. When you burn it, it combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water. In the combustion chamber, that water is a gas (steam). If the exhaust system is cold, some of the water will condense to form liquid water, and that's what you see coming from the exhaust. The more complete the combustion, the more water is produced.

[A383Wing]

yea..so basically, it's normal

[Skull-1]

yea..so basically, it's normal

Which begs the question why my Buick doesn't do the same thing.  Is it the catalytic converter on the newer car?

Vapor is expected but dripping out of the pipe?   And rusting them out two or three times over?

I just wonder if I have something wrong with my exhaust setup....

[myk]

There's something going on there; the 'OP has stated that driving the car long or short distances still causes the same problem.  No car should ever "eat" exhaust components, even if it's only ever driven short distances...

[Skull-1]

There's something going on there; the 'OP has stated that driving the car long or short distances still causes the same problem.  No car should ever "eat" exhaust components, even if it's only ever driven short distances...

I've also noticed it will "spit" out black spots...almost like carbon...for a little while after starting.   Just little black dots on the concrete below the tailpipe.   Mixture issue?

It has a 4bbl and electronic ignition.  Had the same thing with points and a 2 bbl fwiw....

[ws23rt]

Water comes from somewhere.  If the amount you are seeing is more than what is considered normal than where is it coming from?

If the cooling system has been eliminated than what is left is what goes in the intake. If water is coming out it must have come in.

One thing about ethanol is that it will absorb water. A possibility that comes to mind is the tank is extra prone to condensation. Another is you are buying water at the price of gas at your local refueling station.

[A383Wing]

No car should ever "eat" exhaust components, even if it's only ever driven short distances...

B.S....water or vapor sitting in an exhaust system will eat it up...heat, H2O, and oxygen will do a lot of damage

a lot of mufflers now have a hole punched in the end at it's lowest point to force the water out before it gets to the pipes...and mufflers farther back are more prone to rot faster than ones up close to engine because they do not get as hot to evaporate the water....I have put many mufflers on and seen no small punched holes, so I made one with a hammer & punch

[ws23rt]

No car should ever "eat" exhaust components, even if it's only ever driven short distances...

B.S....water or vapor sitting in an exhaust system will eat it up...heat, H2O, and oxygen will do a lot of damage

I agree.  Unless you have a full stainless system it will rust away. Even galvanized will go away because it is not a perfect protection for the steel.
Weep holes will help but if they are not in all the lowest spots water will pool

Also pooled water will keep the humidity high feeding the rust monster on all surfaces.

[jdscofield]

Are you sure you don't have a head gasket leak? 

[Skull-1]

My pipes are stainless.

Am gonna crawl under it and take pics tomorrow.  Perhaps my mufflers need to be moved....

And yes, bad gas could be a problem.   Could my fuel mixture be too rich?

[Skull-1]

Are you sure you don't have a head gasket leak? 

Yes.  I have never had a head gasket issue.  I have ruled that out.  The cooling system is tight.  No leaks.  No coolant loss. 

[A383Wing]

If there was a coolant leak, and if he is running anti-freeze, the smoke out the back would be white and have a sweet smell to it....if it's a light grey-ish color, it's just normal condensation.

What size exhaust in on this car?

[Skull-1]

If there was a coolant leak, and if he is running anti-freeze, the smoke out the back would be white and have a sweet smell to it....if it's a light grey-ish color, it's just normal condensation.

What size exhaust in on this car?

Light grey.  Diminishes as it warms up.   Similar to an F-150.

Size as in diameter?   I will have to take the tape measure to it. Been so long since I had this set put in.

[Cooter]

Take drift and knock small drain holes in bottom CENTER of front AND REAR of mufflers. Most all newer cars have these to combat this.
Water in exhaust is normal. Dont freak out. Just be glad those black spots don't get on chrome bumpers. PITA to get off.

[A383Wing]

Take drift and knock smal drain holes in bottom CENTER of front AND REAR of mufflers. Most all newer cars have these to combat thu s.
Water in exhaust is normal. Dont freak out. Just be glad those black spots don't get on chrome bumpers. PITA to get off.

yea, thanks Cooter..kinda what I was trying to say...I think I did...kinda....I worked in a muffler shop years ago, and the mufflers that did not have the drain holes in them had to putone or two in there before car left the shop...

you would be surprised at the amount of water that mufflers hold

[Skull-1]

Take drift and knock smal drain holes in bottom CENTER of front AND REAR of mufflers. Most all newer cars have these to combat thu s.
Water in exhaust is normal. Dont freak out. Just be glad those black spots don't get on chrome bumpers. PITA to get off.

yea, thanks Cooter..kinda what I was trying to say...I think I did...kinda....I worked in a muffler shop years ago, and the mufflers that did not have the drain holes in them had to putone or two in there before car left the shop...

you would be surprised at the amount of water that mufflers hold

There is safety in numbers lol.   Thanks to all.  Will take a look at this tomorrow.   I am not gonna wind up with useless mufflers I hope.  I can be deadly with a drill. 

[cudaken]

 Skull, I think all the Buick's are causing the problem!

Mom and Dad bought my 68 Road Runner new. Dad had to replaces the mufflers and rear tail pipes around 30,000 miles. I got the Road Runner with 43,000 miles and had to replaces the whole system at 70,000.

After that I was racing the car so exhaust was changed regularly for different engines and header set ups. So after that mileage marks don't count.

One of the ways to make exhaust last longer is to make the exhaust shop bend the pipes, don't use prebent exhaust pipes. The sticks (Pipes) they use are thicker and will last longer. I ran a few Midas exhaust shops and learned that trick.

Now far as water dripping and the black soot water drops?   Seems pretty normal to me. If I rev mine up after a few seconds of running I can blow a good deal of water drops out of the exhaust.

Yes, the Cats on the Buick's will heat the exhaust more so the water stays in a vapor form longer, so no droplets. Other thing is the factory pipes are thicker then the after market prebent pipes, so they last longer.

Cuda Ken, 400,000 miles of Mopar under my happy butt.  
   

[Skull-1]

Skull, I think all the Buick's are causing the problem!

Mom and Dad bought my 68 Road Runner new. Dad had to replaces the mufflers and rear tail pipes around 30,000 miles. I got the Road Runner with 43,000 miles and had to replaces the whole system at 70,000.

After that I was racing the car so exhaust was changed regularly for different engines and header set ups. So after that mileage marks don't count.

One of the ways to make exhaust last longer is to make the exhaust shop bend the pipes, don't use prebent exhaust pipes. The sticks (Pipes) they use are thicker and will last longer. I ran a few Midas exhaust shops and learned that trick.

Now far as water dripping and the black soot water drops?   Seems pretty normal to me. If I rev mine up after a few seconds of running I can blow a good deal of water drops out of the exhaust.

Yes, the Cats on the Buick's will heat the exhaust more so the water stays in a vapor form longer, so no droplets. Other thing is the factory pipes are thicket then the after market prebent pipes, so they last longer.

Cuda Ken, 400,000 miles of Mopar under my happy butt.  
   

Lmao!  Too funny.  

I love my Charger but I have never seen anything as durable as a 1991-1995 Regal, and with the intake fix, the 1996 model.   These things are insane.  405k, 284k, 210k, and 170k.   1992, 1991, 1995, and 1996 respectively.

I remember you from somewhere.  Mopar Mailing List maybe?   Or here if not there.  You have helped me in the past.

When I rev I can get vapor to come out, too.  I guess this is just the way these cars were.   Will keep all this in mind when the time comes to replace these pipes.  Hoping stainless steel will hold up better than what we were using before.....

*salute*

[Mopar Nut]

Is this your first time using stainless steel? And is the whole system stainless steel now? 

[1974dodgecharger]

How can I create this water problem if this normal and means complete combustion? None of my cRs do it not even the 68.  Am I not doing complete burns if I dont spit out water?

[myk]

No car should ever "eat" exhaust components, even if it's only ever driven short distances...

B.S....water or vapor sitting in an exhaust system will eat it up...heat, H2O, and oxygen will do a lot of damage

a lot of mufflers now have a hole punched in the end at it's lowest point to force the water out before it gets to the pipes...and mufflers farther back are more prone to rot faster than ones up close to engine because they do not get as hot to evaporate the water....I have put many mufflers on and seen no small punched holes, so I made one with a hammer & punch

So you've seen cars that are driven in the manner of the OP's car destroy exhaust components at the rate he mentioned, which is two or three times a year?

[cudaken]

How can I create this water problem if this normal and means complete combustion? None of my cRs do it not even the 68.  Am I not doing complete burns if I dont spit out water?

Do you have cat's on the 74? I think by then they where being used.

[RECHRGD]

No car should ever "eat" exhaust components, even if it's only ever driven short distances...

B.S....water or vapor sitting in an exhaust system will eat it up...heat, H2O, and oxygen will do a lot of damage

a lot of mufflers now have a hole punched in the end at it's lowest point to force the water out before it gets to the pipes...and mufflers farther back are more prone to rot faster than ones up close to engine because they do not get as hot to evaporate the water....I have put many mufflers on and seen no small punched holes, so I made one with a hammer & punch

So you've seen cars that are driven in the manner of the OP's car destroy exhaust components at the rate he mentioned, which is two or three times a year?

Myk, he said "two or three times over", not per year.  Who knows how often the pipes rotted out.  Every year, or every ten years?

[Troy]

A couple of you guys responding live in places where this isn't a problem. If you live in Ohio you'd see water dripping out of the exhaust every day - except possibly mid summer.

Troy

[Skull-1]

Is this your first time using stainless steel? And is the whole system stainless steel now? 

Yes. Unless factory exhaust was stainless, which I don't think it was.

[Dino]

Could you possibly film this?  I would be worried if water stopped coming out of the exhaust, but yeah there's a limit.  I'd like to see the tailpipes filmed at idle with cold engine and hot engine.

Where do the pipes rot?  There's supposed to be drain holes in the exhaust tips to drain water.  I've seen where the last end of the pipe travelled up too much so the water would sit right behind the axle bend rotting it from the inside out.

[Skull-1]

Could you possibly film this?  I would be worried if water stopped coming out of the exhaust, but yeah there's a limit.  I'd like to see the tailpipes filmed at idle with cold engine and hot engine.

Where do the pipes rot?  There's supposed to be drain holes in the exhaust tips to drain water.  I've seen where the last end of the pipe travelled up too much so the water would sit right behind the axle bend rotting it from the inside out.

I can give it a shot.   No drain holes anywhere in the pipes.  They also aren't straight as they bend down before they exit.  Perhaps a weep hole is needed.

[Skull-1]

Myk, he said "two or three times over", not per year.  Who knows how often the pipes rotted out.  Every year, or every ten years?

Two or three times since 1969.   To be clear. 

[Skull-1]

Videoed it at startup.  Waiting for it to warm up.  Where should I post this, Dino?   Send you it via email maybe?

[Dino]

Videoed it at startup.  Waiting for it to warm up.  Where should I post this, Dino?   Send you it via email maybe?

You can but I want others to see this as well.  I have a video clip of my car on photobucket and I'm sure you can upload it to several free hosting sites.  All you need is to upload the file, we can download it and watch it.

btw, email is mistervisATgmail.com

[Brass]

Myk, he said "two or three times over", not per year.  Who knows how often the pipes rotted out.  Every year, or every ten years?

Two or three times since 1969.   To be clear. 

So about every 15 year?  In that case, I think this might be normal.  Be sure not to short-cycle your engine.  Each time you run/drive it, let it come all the way up to full operating temperature to burn out the moisture. 

[Skull-1]

Well consider it was in resto for almost ten years so...   When it was a daily driver it went through pipes fairly quickly IMHO.  I hope it is normal...

[Dino]

Here's two short video's Skull sent me so please take a look at them .  First one is around 5MB, the other around 13.  He also said that: The water takes about two minutes to show up.  It is 38 degrees here, hence the cloud of white....   It doesn't make smoke when it is warm outside...

http://s1207.photobucket.com/user/Dino-69/media/VIDEO0022_zps3fbeadc7.mp4.html
http://s1207.photobucket.com/user/Dino-69/media/VIDEO0023_zpse210698c.mp4.html

Although it seems excessive, and it may be somewhat, considering the circumstances this is not out of the ordinary.  It's cold and there's a lot of combustion going on to produce that amount of water.  Once it's out on the open and hot however, it should not do this.  Vapor sure but not dripping, not when hot.  If there is no cloud when the engine's hot then the head gaskets are fine as well.  I think the next step is to get the engine tunes as best as possible and see what, if anything, has changed.

[Skull-1]

Also sent you some when hot.  Definite difference.   No dripping.    You will notice more carbon on exhaust one (left bank) vs two (right bank) which looks clean.  (Sorry I couldn't send all the videos for proper context.  I can try to upload them at some point but a couple are too big to email.)

Thanks for helping with the upload.  

[Dino]

And here it is

http://s1207.photobucket.com/user/Dino-69/media/VIDEO0024_zps7a6f2f6b.mp4.html

[myk]

No car should ever "eat" exhaust components, even if it's only ever driven short distances...

B.S....water or vapor sitting in an exhaust system will eat it up...heat, H2O, and oxygen will do a lot of damage

a lot of mufflers now have a hole punched in the end at it's lowest point to force the water out before it gets to the pipes...and mufflers farther back are more prone to rot faster than ones up close to engine because they do not get as hot to evaporate the water....I have put many mufflers on and seen no small punched holes, so I made one with a hammer & punch

So you've seen cars that are driven in the manner of the OP's car destroy exhaust components at the rate he mentioned, which is two or three times a year?

Myk, he said "two or three times over", not per year.  Who knows how often the pipes rotted out.  Every year, or every ten years?

Oh I see-oops, lol.  Well in that case what the 'OP is describing is understandable.  I will say that my personal mileage has varied, though; I've had the same exhaust (minus the Dynomax U-flow mufflers) for the last 20 years and my exhaust is still good to go..

[1974dodgecharger]

My mistake thought op said it dripped every start up even d4iving through t3xas.

[Skull-1]

You got it right in that it drips after every COLD start, regardless how long it was driven before.  Sorry I wasn't clear on that.

I can drive it across Texas.  Park it overnight.   Start it.  And it drips like the vid until it heats up.  It isn't coolant.  Doesn't smell like coolant.  Clear.  Goes away after warmup only to be back the next day at startup.

[Back N Black]

I watched the vid and its normal. My car does the same.

[Skull-1]

I watched the vid and its normal. My car does the same.

Whew.  Now on to weep holes and a tune up. 

[rob1684]

I've had my 74 Charger for 35+ years with the bullet tips and it always does it when the temp outside cools down. I was once told to put tennis balls in the tips to help keep moist air out. I do it when I store it but not during driving months. They fit nice and snug and will blow out if you forget to remove them.

[ws23rt]

Let's not for get about the local humidity when we drive our cars. When the air is saturated with water it's almost fog. That goes in the intake.

[Skull-1]

Well this car spent most of its life in deep Deep South Texas which is known for high humidity.  But it has also done it in Northern Oklahoma in winter or summer.

[68X426]

I watched the vid and its normal. My car does the same.

Looks normal to me too, and my Hemi (TTi headers, stainless exhaust) does it everytime like that when it is below 45 degrees or below 55 and with high humidity. Even when stored in a dry garage. I think the f-ing ethanol contributes to the water build-up too.

Takes 2 to 3 minutes to stop.

These are big block Mopars, they are beasts that spit, smoke, and breath fire.  

[A383Wing]

mine do it all the time up here in NW Washington....even when they are in covered garages

[Skull-1]

Here's an interesting discovery.  The folks who put my mufflers on put them on inverted.  The weep holes are on top!

[Sublime/Sixpack]

Here's an interesting discovery.  The folks who put my mufflers on put them on inverted.  The weep holes are on top!

DOH! 

[A383Wing]

Here's an interesting discovery.  The folks who put my mufflers on put them on inverted.  The weep holes are on top!

which is why you are getting so much water out the pipes....take it back and make 'em do it right

[Skull-1]

Here's an interesting discovery.  The folks who put my mufflers on put them on inverted.  The weep holes are on top!

which is why you are getting so much water out the pipes....take it back and make 'em do it right

I think they did it in 2005 so I am hosed.  LOL

[A383Wing]

well, looks like you know what needs to be done next, huh?

[Skull-1]

well, looks like you know what needs to be done next, huh?

Other than slapping the guy who put them on..........

DRILL BABY DRILL.

[Skull-1]

Drilled holes in both front and back of each muffler.   The water that came out shocked me.  More from the left than the right, as expected based on what we saw.   Holy cow.....

So hopefully this squares it.

[A383Wing]

you will probably still have water & steam come out the pipes, but not as much as before now that the holes have been put in the correct places...

[Skull-1]

you will probably still have water & steam come out the pipes, but not as much as before now that the holes have been put in the correct places...

I hope so.  It was crazy how much came out.  Also, the stance of my car and the way the idiot put the right side muffler on (too close to the driveline) it needed a drain on the front of the muffler.  The rear one wouldn't have done much if it had been installed the right way.   Amazing what I am learning....

If I were as inept at my profession as some of these people have been at theirs.....   Sheesh.

[73chgrSE]

Just found this thread after having the same problem. Gettin' drillin' 2moro I guess.