looking at a truck

[madmax]

strange thing is I don't smell any antifreeze, just plain water (dirty from being in exhaust pipe) but I would think after 15 minutes of the truck ideling it've gone away. the engine runs strong, the trans feels fine (5 speed), I'm just concerned that it's a leaking headgasket, but I don't smell any burning anti freeze and the oil seems fine. any opinions? It leaks some oil, but i expect that at 148k, the thing that has me really worried is the water coming out the exaust, also the weather conditions were 70 degrees, sunny, 60% humidity, it did rain a bit earlier in the day (till noon) this was at 6pm

 

[muddinlate86]

ask the guy if it has new exhast.water in the exhast is normaly a good thang it means that the catilitic converter is working

 

[BroncoJoe19]

strange thing is I don't smell any antifreeze, just plain water (dirty from being in exhaust pipe) but I would think after 15 minutes of the truck ideling it've gone away. the engine runs strong, the trans feels fine (5 speed), I'm just concerned that it's a leaking headgasket, but I don't smell any burning anti freeze and the oil seems fine. any opinions? It leaks some oil, but i expect that at 148k, the thing that has me really worried is the water coming out the exaust, also the weather conditions were 70 degrees, sunny, 60% humidity, it did rain a bit earlier in the day (till noon) this was at 6pm

I recall a member "Jersey" stating that there is a test kit to see if there is any oil in the radiator/coolant.

He siad that he gets his through the snap-on dealer, but that it is otherwise available in parts stores. I have no idea about it other than that. IT might be worth a try.

Good luck

joe

 

[michibronc]

Hi Madmax,

How much water is coming out? Is it a large amount? H2O is a natural by product of the combustion process, so there should be SOME coming out (mostly as steam, but usually at least a little in liquid form).

 

[BroncoJoe19]

Hi Madmax,
How much water is coming out? Is it a large amount? H2O is a natural by product of the combustion process, so there should be SOME coming out (mostly as steam, but usually at least a little in liquid form).

Yeah, that's true. Also the main reason why older exhaust sytems used to last only three years was because they would rust out from the inside. Now that they are stainless steel they don't.

The reason they would rust in part was due to condensation forming inside the muffler and tail pipe during the night, from warm moist air, forming "dew" earlier in the morning each day. As you noted it was particularly humid, (in that it rained) and there may have been a good amount of condensation in the exhaust. If the truck had been lying for a few days, more than usual could have built up. You may have noticed some cars actually dripping water out of the tail pipe when they fisrt take off on a cooler day in the morning. That is also when you would see more steam. IF condesate actually puddled inside the muffler, perhaps 15 minutes of idleing wasn't long enough for it all to evaporate.

Use your judgment and compare it to past experience and observations of other cars. IF you are concerned, then consider the test kit I mentioned above.

joe

 

[madmax]

Yeah, that's true. Also the main reason why older exhaust sytems used to last only three years was because they would rust out from the inside. Now that they are stainless steel they don't.
The reason they would rust in part was due to condensation forming inside the muffler and tail pipe during the night, from warm moist air, forming "dew" earlier in the morning each day. As you noted it was particularly humid, (in that it rained) and there may have been a good amount of condensation in the exhaust. If the truck had been lying for a few days, more than usual could have built up. You may have noticed some cars actually dripping water out of the tail pipe when they fisrt take off on a cooler day in the morning. That is also when you would see more steam. IF condensation actually puddled inside the muffler, perhaps 15 minutes of idleing wasn't long enough for it all to evaporate.

Use your judgment and compare it to past experience and observations of other cars. IF you are concerned, then consider the test kit I mentioned above.

joe

yea ill grab that test kit, couldn't hurt to be careful, i do tend to get paran.... pathologically cautious about some things.

 

[Justshootme84]

I would thnink that if you had a blown head gsket, and water/ coolant was entering the cyinders, you would have white smoke out of the exhaust. IF it's just a bit of water dripping out the bottom of the tailpipe(s), that would more likely be condensation.

 

[shift1313]

one of my 4.9l's blow alot out of the exhaust(no cat). its the FI. the carbbed version i have doesnt do this as bad. if the truck had water leaking into the motor it would be blowing lots of white smoke and less water. you can idle the truck with the radiator cap off and the radiator full and watch for bubbles from combusion blowing into the coolant passages. I have two of these motors and they are tough and ive never seen a blown headgasket or cracked head. its really a product of temp change, flow, etc. i wouldnt worry about it really

 

[madmax]

thanks, its been bugging the **** out of me cause the oil dosen't appear to have coolant in it and theirs no white smoke, though I didn't check the coolant to see if he was running straight water to hide the symptoms. I've got a freind who knows these engines really well, he's going to take a look at it this weekend with me.