Re: H20 dripping exhaust...

["Doyt W. Echelberger" <Doyt@poboxes.com>]

Sean...the dripping is normal, just the product of fuel combustion. The
hydrogen in the gasoline molecules is combining with the oxygen from the
intake air, and the product is water vapor/steam. This condenses into
liquid water on the cool surfaces of the exhaust pipe, while the car is
warming up. In the winter, you see it as clouds of white vapor coming out
of cars that are just getting out on the road.

The water has nitric and sulfuric acid in it, also from combustion. This
acid solution corrodes your muffler and tailpipe. This is one reason that
short trips are hard on your car in a lot of ways. Longer trips heat up the
systems and boil off the water, both from the exhaust system, and from the
oil.

Doyt
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At 02:40 PM 3/3/97 EDT, you wrote:
>Please excuse the WB, if this is a stupid question, but none of my other
>cars have ever done this... last Saturday before departing on "Audi across
>Metro Boston" day, I started my '92 100 up in the driveway and let it warm
>up (I'm guessing it ran for approx. 5 minutes). I noticed that there was a
>pool of water (?) forming directly below the exhaust tips and water was
>dripping from the exhaust. What would cause this? I've owned a VW Golf, a
>Honda Accord, and a Toyota Cressida; and none of them have ever dripped
>anything from the exhaust. I can't even say if this is still happening
>since it rained on Sunday and I did not have time to warm it up this
>morning.
>
>Oh, by the way, is anyone else's spouse sick of hearing about your Audi?
>
>Sean Ford
>sean@nwh.org
>Newton-Wellesley Hospital
>Newton, MA  02162 (USA)