I'm losing my mind

[69GMC910]

I live in canada, it is currently about -15 C. My truck always seems to have excessive exhaust "smoke" or condensation. If I leave my truck idleing for ten minutes, and then rev it up, a LOT of water comes out of both pipes. When I look at other vehicles, their exhaust isn't even noticable, except when they stop. Could I have a blown head gasket? Power is the same as always. I'm losing my mind!

[Russell]

Don't worry about it man!

Water is a normal byproduct of good combustion -- All of my carburated vehicles have always put lotsa water out the pipes in the cold

Whaddya think about the snow! I for one am real happy to see it (I'm about 45 minutes East of yourself )

[northcountry67]

I think the difference is in that most cars you see up here have catalytic converters which would hold and heat most of the condensation before it comes out. Unless you are losing coolant or it's mixing with the oil, then I wouldn't worry.

[krue]

My truck drips pretty good since I ran dual exhaust (while it's cold). Stops when it warms up though.

[truckdude239]

mine does it every morning got 2 lines in the driveway from where it shoots out dad making me pressure wash the driveway this weekend to get the lines gone

[boundstaffpress]

I've heard that keeping your gas tank full in the winter is one answer to condensation. Less air space means less condensation. An engine with a full tank SHOULD stop "smoking" sooner. Used to work on my Chevelle.

[72MARIO]

Another reason it's not god to take short trips the exhaust needs to heat up in order to boil /dry out all the moisture.

[Chris_T]

That's normal. I did notice that when I went from dual exhaust to a single 3" it wasn't as bad. Possibly because it warmed up faster, possibly because there was less exhaust piping for water to condense on when it was shut off. When I lived in Edmonton my fence had lots of black marks after the winter from that very thing.

[71-longbed]

my fence had lots of black marks after the winter from that very thing.

i left black marks on some stuff in my dads shop while revving it alittle

[69GMC910]

Wow! What a relief! Russel, I think this is just the beginning of the snow, I'm just dreading the thought of a foot in March!

So basically, it is because I went to dual exhaust and it doesn't get AS hot. I went from single to dual @ X-mas time and it has been so mild I never really noticed till now!

I think it looks cool, especially when the guy behind you is tailgating, romp on it and he can't see sh!t!!

Thanks for the help!

[71-longbed]

i get water out of my duals ..... i wouldnt worry about it unless .. your still getting white smoke and water long after its warmed up to full operating temps

[72MARIO]

It "has" been dam warm around here untill now.

Now it's freezing.

[69GMC910]

Yeah, it was like +12 here one day and -30 two days later

[krue]

Fahrenheit or Celsius? Either way that's way to cold!

[69-350]

Generally, the chemical equation for burning a hydrocarbon (such as octane) in oxygen is as follows:

CxHy + (x + y/4)O2 → xCO2 + (y/2)H2O

source: Wikipedia; "Combustion"

Using simple chemistry (I know, that class you all hated when you were in high school. hell, I gotta live through it for a couple more months, oh well, it's my highest grade, next to Auto Tech ) obvioulsy water is a biproduct of the burning of hydrocarbons (combustion of gasoline) and is perfectly normal.

Now, to try to shrug off all the weird looks and comments like "maybe kids are getting smarter nowadays" (no, many kids I know really aren't any smarter than the generation before me, unfortunatly)... that weather huh? It ain't too bad up here, it was like 15-25 degrees, Fahrenheit. Not bad, really.

[71RestoRod]

When I start my beast on a cold morning it leaves a nice shotgun blast of condensation / carbon deposit on the side of the wifeys car... she just caught me last week "so that's where that's coming from..."

[Green Machine]

One day when I wasn't looking, someone replaced the cat on my 88 with a straight pipe. Since then, I have noticed more steamy exhaust when the weather is cold.