Bad miss, wet exhaust, 5kcstq

[Wallace White]

Brett -

You're right, of course--I jumped to conclusions or at least
possibilities far too soon. Thanks especially for the description of
other symptoms of a bad head gasket.

Now, to get my mind off that unlikely possibility, any other suggestions
of what could cause it to run like this? I should verify that every
cylinder is getting spark. I could disconnect one spark plug wire at a
time and see if one has no effect. I wouldn't think it's likely that one
injector suddenly stopped delivering fuel, but that would fit the
symptoms... 

Thanks,
Wallace

Brett Dikeman wrote:
> 
> At 5:36 PM -0800 12/3/00, Wallace White wrote:
> 
> >I'm troubled by the exhaust, which pulses at that same rate and puffs a
> >little... mist? It's not that cold out (50F?) and our other car's
> >exhaust is almost invisible. I stuck a paper towel near the tail pipe
> >and removed it to find little water splatters all over it. (Sure enough,
> >they've evaporated and the towel looks clean now.) Uh oh.
> 
> Water is a product of proper combustion, and outside temperature
> means little; dew point and humidity do.  There could also be a lot
> of condensed moisture in the exhaust system from the last time you
> started the car, affected by the angle of the car, temperature
> outside and of the exhaust, duration of the run, max power of the
> run, whether the exhaust system has drainage holes...I could go on
> and on.
> 
> Paper towels tell nothing; you need to run a tester kit which reveals
> presence of exhaust gasses in the coolant.  Commonly available at
> most auto parts stores.
> 
> Some other symptoms/side effects:
> 
> -oil in the coolant reservoir(sure sign)
> -"milk shake" on the flat surface of the oil filler cap(not quite as
> sure sign; water is product of combustion and tends to get in places)
> -coolant level dropping steadily(not sure sign; many other places
> coolant could be going)
> -unusually clean cylinders(water or coolant acts like a
> steam-cleaner; not really a sure sign)
> 
> I'm not saying you categorically don't have a bad head gasket; I -am-
> saying you need to use better detective tools to find out for sure
> that you do before you go paying for the fairly costly procedure.