Preeze

so shortly after buying my 87 944 I noticed a lot of water coming out the muffler after start up.
with in a few minutes the water would stop and it would start puffing steam.
all I could think (and dread) was head gasket, cracked head, or cracked block...none of which I wanted to hear.
no other signs like oil and coolant mixing though.
before I bought the car I test drove it then followed the previous owner for a few miles on my way back home and never saw any smoke or steam.

yesterday after removing the whole exhaust to remove the cat, I noticed the muffler was FULL of water!!
I cut the muffler off and stuck a glasspack on as a temp and started the car.
no steam, smoke, or water spitting out.
glad to find out that it must have filled up when I left it out in the rain for a few days.
has anyone had this problem or heard of it happening before?

ernie9468

Normal___Condensation built up that what it is.

Preeze

strange, never had that with any other car I've owned.
maybe it's because most of the other cars exhaust had rotted off half way before I got them!

John_AZ

Do you have to add any coolant/water to top off---a cup or so a week?
Do a leak down test.
If the head gasket is bad you will see bubbles in the coolant reservoir or hear a hissing sound at the tail pipe.

GL
John

Preeze

no coolant needed and no bubbles.
also no coolant in the oil and the car has never gone over the second dash on the temp gauge.
drilled an 1/8" hole in the bottom of the muffler to release some water and welded it back to the tailpipe.
I'm transferring the registration from my Saab to the 944 today and will be driving the car from now on.
I'll keep an eye out for any signs of trouble.

Oddjob

Carbon Dioxide and Water are the two major byproducts of combustion, so anytime an organic fuel is burned in air, you get water and a lot of it. Due to the heat of the process, it is released as a vapor in the exhaust stream. But when the exhaust piping is still cold, it condenses back into a liquid on the walls of the pipes, in the cat and in the muffler. So in order to fill the exhaust with water, you must have been making a lot of short trips, where the exhaust did not get hot enough to vaporize the condensed water, so it collected in the muffler. One of many reasons that short trips are hard on cars.

Does the car still have the cat installed? When the cats are removed, this phenomenon is more obvious, as the cars will spit water droplets out the tailpipe when started. Dont see it as much with the cats, as the water gets collected in the cat core until the exhaust system gets hot enough to re-vaporize the water condensation.

ernie9468

[QUOTE=Preeze;793373
I'll keep an eye out for any signs of trouble.[/QUOTE]

I don't think you'll have any problems ,but you can expect it to happen again maybe not so much water coming out since you'll be driving the car more often .But like _ oddjob _ mention there is always those short trips & parking the car for a couple days without starting it.And drilling a hole migth help get ride of some,don't worry if you see a puddle of water on your garage floor underneath the hole in the muffler this is also normal .

ernie9468

[QUOTE=Preeze;793373
I'll keep an eye out for any signs of trouble.[/QUOTE]

I don't think you'll have any problems ,but you can expect it to happen again maybe not so much water coming out since you'll be driving the car more often .But like _ oddjob _ mention there is always those short trips & parking the car for a couple days without starting it.And drilling a hole migth help get ride of some,don't worry if you see a puddle of water on your garage floor underneath the hole in the muffler this is also normal .

Preeze

I removed the cat when I had the exhaust off and replaced it with a glasspack and welded the original muffler back on the tail pipe.
I haven't been driving the car since I bought it a month or so back but have been running the engine while doing tune ups and maintenance.
I know not all of the water came from normal condensation from combustion.
my bet is a lot came from heavy rain and washing the car after wet sanding and buffing.
the muffler sits on a slight angle up unlike most of the cars I've owned in the past.
all seems to be well now though and as of today it's all legal and ready to drive to work tomorrow.
thanks everybody and I'll keep ya posted if it turns into a water sprinkler again..

JimV8

I agree that water in the exhaust is normal. What it tell me is that the car was run short distances. Best to run them till they get good and hot. Our daughter drives the jeep but usually only short distances. Four years ago we replaced the muffler and exhaust pipe and just did the same again. Both were completely rotted out.

Preeze

well my average commute to work is 12.5 miles and about 20 minutes.
that should be enough time to warm her up, ya think?