What does it mean when the tip of your exhaust is leaking water?

 

[&:]Its just part of the gasoline and when burned it turns into steam builds up in small amounts and is expelled out the exhaust. If you look at car exhaust you should see a few drops of water coming off the exhaust pipe, especially when the vehicle is started for the first time i.e. when everything is cold. However if there is white smoke or excessive "steam" upon startup it could be a blown head gasket. One indicator is that the white exhaust has a "sweet" smell like anti-freeze. Also do you have to add coolant way to often, every day or something like that. Basically a few drops of water is no big deal.

 

If its steady its a head gasket. Like v10 said this is were smell helps alot. Antifreeze has a distinct odor, you should smell it. I knew someone that had a Beretta that would spew water like a fire hose when he started it up.

 

If it is just a few drips, not like a hose as mentioned, it is perfectly normal. However, if there is alot of water, it could be a blown head gasket. I remember last summer someone came into the shop with an early 90's Ferd Explorer. I was the lucky one to diagnose it (smelled like BO on the inside like a MoFu.) As soon as I cranked it over water spewed out out of the exhaust, it took several attempts to get it running. Once I did get it running, it was spraying water out of both heads and out of the exhaust. Took it apart and it had two blown head gaskets and two cracked heads. Now get this. The guy didn't have enough money to take it in, so he drove it like that for 2 months!

 

Yesterday I drove home from work and parked my truck. You could here sizzling and see steam from the tailpipe. This was clear and did not smell like antifreeze. A small hole in my muffler was just pouring water out. Temp was fine and coolant level fine. Should I look at this being a problem? It has a miss too.

 

Completely normal. Only condensation. Miss is unrelated. Find out which cyl has the miss. My guess will be no. 8. Checks plugs, wires, etc and read the stickied plenum thread at the top of the forum.