Help please water coming out of exhaust joints?????

[Michaels]

Ok, so over the weekend I noticed a little puddle under the car as I was pulling away. Figured it was from the Ac no big deal right? Today at work I pulled the car out and noticed the puddle again. However this time I haven't used the Ac in a few days. So I toss it up on the jack and notice that the water is dripping off of the transmission directly next to the axle on the drivers side. After further investigation under the rest of the car I noticed that each of the joints on the exhaust are wet and dripping a little bit? Now I haven't had any smoke from the exhaust or any funny smells or anything? I tried searching on here and can't really find anything related to water besides people being paranoid about ac condensation... Anyone have any ideas for me?

2001.5 1.8T FWD M AWM

[biketsai]

Has it rained in the past couple of days where you live?

[Michaels]

Not a drop. I live in southern California so we don't see much rain here.

[BaconBait]

It's probably just exhaust condensation. The joints are leaking the water. Once the exhaust piping is hot enough the water will evaporate. I'm guessing you drive pretty short distances.

[Michaels]

Min distance is about 10miles, and the weird part is I'll see the puddles in the morning or after the car sits at work all day.

[Dallas09]

Sounds like a coincidence, the puddles you have seen sometimes are probably a result of the A/C in the past (before the last few days).. My guess is when you got worried and went to take a look, you started the car to drive it up on a ramp or into the garage or something.. which would definitely be the perfect amount of time for condensation to start appearing. The only way I would be concerned is if you drive long enough to get up to temp, never turned the A/C on, and you still have water leaking.

[Scotty@Advanced]

It's probably just exhaust condensation. The joints are leaking the water. Once the exhaust piping is hot enough the water will evaporate. I'm guessing you drive pretty short distances.

Yup gasoline + air = Water and carbon dioxide. If you use the car for short trips the exhaust won't get hot enough to boil off the condensation and you'll get drips from the joints, and tailpipe.. Totally normal and nothing to freak about.

[Michaels]

We are talking about a decent amount of water, enough coming off the tranny to have a constant drip, and enough off of most of the joints to have drips build but not enough for them to drop, except the rear most one (before the muffler)which seems to be dripping quite a bit almost consistent. Also this is something I've never ever seen out of my car before.


"The only way I would be concerned is if you drive long enough to get up to temp, never turned the A/C on, and you still have water leaking."

That's what I'm saying, I drive the car about ten miles in traffic with no AC or air on at all each way to work so it has plenty of time to get to temp, yes both coolant temp and oil temp. Also as I stated earlier there will still be a puddle after letting the car sit overnight 8+hrs or while at work 6-10 hrs so it doesn't seem to stop leaking?

[arorem]

Are you losing any coolant?

[Michaels]

I just double checked and I am loosing a very small amount of coolant.. I'm in between the min and max line, and I topped it up to the max about 4 months ago.

[Scotty@Advanced]

We are talking about a decent amount of water, enough coming off the tranny to have a constant drip, and enough off of most of the joints to have drips build but not enough for them to drop, except the rear most one (before the muffler)which seems to be dripping quite a bit almost consistent. Also this is something I've never ever seen out of my car before.


"The only way I would be concerned is if you drive long enough to get up to temp, never turned the A/C on, and you still have water leaking."

That's what I'm saying, I drive the car about ten miles in traffic with no AC or air on at all each way to work so it has plenty of time to get to temp, yes both coolant temp and oil temp. Also as I stated earlier there will still be a puddle after letting the car sit overnight 8+hrs or while at work 6-10 hrs so it doesn't seem to stop leaking?

Put your finger in the water then taste it but don't swallow, spit a few times and rinse out your mouth. If it's sweet it's coolant and you have a leak. if it's not sweet or doesn't smell like coolant than it's likely water from other sources.

Did you clean out the battery compartment drains? You could have a bunch of water in there that is slowly draining.


I just double checked and I am loosing a very small amount of coolant.. I'm in between the min and max line, and I topped it up to the max about 4 months ago.

Probably not enough water to make the puddles you've experienced.