[kevin d]

OK folks, bear with me. I know this question was posted before but I couldn't find it.

What causes water to drip out of the tail pipes? I know its not coolant but where does it come from? Thanks,

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Honey, its not a $200 hat. The distributor was $200, the hat came with it. kevin d
Maryland Chevelle Club #362

 

[sneal46]

One possibility is that when the hot exhaust reaches the cooler outside air, the reduction of the temperature of the exhaust does not allow it to hold as much water vapor. The water condensates at the end of the tailpipe and drips out as water. I may be wrong, but I thought water was one product of combustion.

 

[JJ'65]

sneal46 is right; it's water vapor, that is part of the the exhaust, that has condensed into water in the liquid form. This is most noticeable in the winter when the pipes are really cold. after the system warms up good, water vapor stays gaseous all the way out the tailpipe. Lots of short trips that don't warm the system up will cause your exhaust to rust sooner from the condensate that remains in the system after you shut down.

I understand that some people make small holes in the low spots in their mufflers and pipes to drain any liquid out and reduce rusting. Makes sense to me.

Years ago, when you could buy all the parts fairly cheap from the Sears Roebuck catalog, i converted my '65 to duals and noticed that mufflers and tailpipes definitely didn't last as long as before when it was single exhaust--probably because short trips didn't heat up the system as fast.

 

[OrrieG]

sneal46 is correct, its the same reason mufflers rust from the inside out, the water by-product condenses in the bottom of the muffler and low places in tail pipes also. If there is alot of steam even after it gets warmed up check for a head gasket or manifold leak.

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OrrieG
64 Malibu HT Survivor
Gold Member #171

 

[72chevelle350TH350]

I did the "hole in the bottom" thing. When I first drilled them about 1/4 a cup of merky water came out of each! and it's a daily driver...

Make the hole pretty small. mine is about 1/8" and I can hear it. Others can't... BUT I CAN!

I will plug it up witha screw in the warmer months.

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have now>>>>> am building
2.73 open 10bolt>>>>>>3.73 posi 12bolt
350>>>>396 w/nitrous
shooting for 12s in 1/4
college student budget!

 

[283v8]

Just for fun;
My Babcok and Wilcox textbook on "Steam" tells me that for every pound of propane that is burned, 1.63 pounds of water are produced.(gasoline is not listed so I am using propane).
The weight gain comes from combining the fuel with oxygen in air.(Remember chemistry?)
Thus,based on the above approximation, for every gallon of gasoline burned,(5.8 LB.)you get 9.5 LB or 1.1 gallons of water.
Just over one gallon of water for every gallon of Gasoline!!!!!

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Gotta have a Chevy !In Durham N.C.
Make it look the way you like it, forget what the other guys say!

 

[Blazer1970]

Plus, I know that the condensate from Propane combustion is very corrosive. I think that Propane is the worst for this, but natural gas, and I'm sure gasoline are the same to some extent. For those furnace condensate drains, they say that you can run the water into limestone gravel, and it will neutralize the acid (base?). So......maybe we should fill our mufflers with rocks to avoid the corrosion!

 

[sneal46]

ANy more questions like this and we'll have to rename the site....Team Chemistry!!!!