water out my tail pipes?

[Boise69]

Out of curiousity, my tail pipes drain a lot of water. i don't mean a few drops but if it runs for 10 minutes at ides i'll have a pool of water under each pipe. Normal, nothing to worry about? sometimes that water isn't clear and has black in it. again, if it runs good should i even care?

[Sweet72]

Keep a close eye on your coolant level. That doesn't seem right to me.

[Boise69]

i top my radiator off about once a week. about have a gallon. you think theres a connection?

[action]

With the cooler weather I say condensation. But watch water in radiator. If it is a head gasket it will also build presure in the radiator and after awhile split it.
Jack

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Boise69

i top my radiator off about once a week. about have a gallon. you think theres a connection?

Yes, it sounds like you have a blown head gasket.If your radiator isn't leaking, then it's going out the exhaust.....

[Boise69]

even with no 'milkshake' on the dip or no oil in the radiator?

[corn]

Fill the radiator & look in it while it idles. If it bubbles constantly only when its running, its head gasket time...

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Boise69;

even with no 'milkshake' on the dip or no oil in the radiator?

It could be "blown to the inside" which means the water is going in to the combustion chamber. It could also be an intake gasket.
If the blow is minor it won't be in the oil. Does it steam out the exhaust regardless of outside temps?

[GMCMAX]

Do ya top it all the way off, mine (68) will push that out the overflow and runs about an inch or so low all the time. Seems that some have a cold fill mark part way down the tank on 69ish year.

[extd56]

Pull the plugs one at a time and look for a very clean plug or water coming out the spark plug hole. Hope this helps.

[72freak]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Yes, it sounds like you have a blown head gasket.If your radiator isn't leaking, then it's going out the exhaust.....

Exactly!!!!..............if you want to try a cheap, long, temporary fix...put some Bars stop leak in it.

[Blazer1970]

Mine did that when it was running really rich from a leaky carb. It would spray that black water on the garage walls if you revved the engine. Different carb made it go away. I believe that water is a byproduct of the hydrocarbons in the rich exhaust. It will naturally happen more in colder weather, and it could just be your choke if it is only on warmup.

[7387chevys]

Are you running 3 1/2" tips....?Those seem to have lots of condensation.I would check the plugs and keep an eye on it.
Shane

[68C15]

it sounds to be related to your bog problem. Qjet or 2 barrell or some other carb?

[shifty]

It's important to understand that the byproduct of combustion is CO² and H²O. A little dripping out of the tailpipe is normal.

I had the same problem with my L6 After swapping out my carb for a new one - my carb wasn't adjusted properly. I, too, shot stuff all over my walls.

The loss of radiator fluid could be due to using an incorrect radiator cap for your engine (too few PSI cap letting water out), or from running hot and pushing water out that way - per stock setup, the radiator dumps to the ground, so none of the fluid is recaptured, so you would need to refill as the water slowly leaked out.

I wouldn't just go dumping bars stop leak into your engine until you figure out what's up.

First thing I would do is setup a "catch" container at the end of your radiator overflow tube to see what, if anything, is coming out of the radiator. If there is a half gallon coming out, then you know where that water is going. If water is coming out of the tailpipe still, it's probably time to readjust your carb.

[Boise69]

great stuff guys, thanks. i think its more inline with my carb and the 3.5 in tips i run and the colder weather all rapped into one. I have a new 4bl edlebrock carb on an air gap intake. The carb runs rich and no matter how much i fiddle it still runs rich and i think its the cause of my bogg and now that youve mentioned it, the excess blackish water. now what to do, i just dont know.

[shifty]

Beore you do anything, I would strongly consider doing two things:

1) Setup an overflow bottle for that radiator, and see if that is where your water is going. If it ain't going into the overflow bottle, then the head gasket stuff listed above is totally, totally valid.

2) Get a rebuild kit for your carb and rebuild that sucker. Sounds like one of your floats are stuck, maybe? If it's new, it probably just hasn't been adjusted right. You might check the FAQ forum for a "carb adjustment" thread, or search this particular forum and the mechanical/engine forum for the words "carb adjust" and 'carb adjustment'

[jacobs]

If you are seeing bubbles in your radiator while the engine is running, remove your spark plugs and put compressed air to one cylinder at a time. Then watch for bubbles in your coolant. This will tell you which cylinder is leaking coolant.

[Blazer1970]

You can't keep the radiator filled to the top when there is no overflow tank like most of these trucks. It just pumps that top couple of inches on the ground the first time you warm up the engine after you fill it. As long as it stays at the same level where you can see it when cold just leave it alone.

[mrein3]

Originally Posted by shifty

It's important to understand that the byproduct of combustion is CO² and H²O. A little dripping out of the tailpipe is normal.

...stuff deleted.

Shifty got it right. Water out the tail pipe is normal. When you burn fuel, one of the by-products is H²O, aka water.

When I worked at the shop, a lot of the old ladies who literally drove their cars only to church on Sunday, would go through exhaust systems like they were going out of style. The only thing you have to worry about is if you drive your truck like those old ladies. They drove it a mile or two to church, then shut it off. The exhaust never got hot enough to vaporize the water. It eventually pooled up enough and rotted out the muffler and pipes.

Do what everybody is saying, catch your coolant (you should anyways), inspect for obvious head gasket problems, etc. However after you do all that I'll bet you find nothing wrong AND still get water out the tail pipe.

[jimfulco]

Stick your finger in the water that's coming from the pipe, then taste it. Taste kinda sweet? It's coolant. Not sweet? It's condensation.

Idling lets the exhaust system stay relatively cool, so more water from combustion will condense. Look at Grandma's Mercury easing toward the grocery store at barely a fast idle. See the dribble from the tailpipe? Same thing. That's why her muffler rusted out at 20,000 miles.

[MisterMan]

head gasket

[jamon8]

water is a by-product of perfect combustion.