Muffler leaking water in hybrid

[JoeRon]

See attached picture. Water is coming out on driveway. Is this normal?
thx

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[sundog]

Almost certainly yes, as water is a byproduct of combustion.

 

[paneubert]

Yes. And the reason there is a weep hole in the muffler.

 

[VicRattlehead]

Check your coolant level.

 

[dlhort1955]

There's a hole in the bucket dear Liza, dear Liza.......

 

[Johnkn]

Check your coolant level.

You should not be giving any automotive advice...


.

 

[AutobahnSHO]

All cars build up condensation in the exhaust, it leaks out a purpose-built hole rather than collect.

 

[fossil]

water held in muffler = rusted out muffler

 

[Panther City Outdoors]

Same thing happened to me, and I ask the same question here. Funny, but I've never really seen it happen since.

 

[40caliber]

See attached picture. Water is coming out on driveway. Is this normal?
thx

First time car/truck owner?

 

[Oscarcat]

To add to all the above, start with the statement above that water is a byproduct of combustion. In a fully warm engine, the water goes out the tailpipe as steam and you don't see it. However before the engine is fully warm, the water doesn't vaporize, therefore drips out to be seen by you.

Because your hybrid internal combustion engine shares the work with the electric motor, the ICE runs less, doesn't warm up as quickly.

Digression: that is why there is hybrid specific synthetic oil. It has more of the anti-acid chemicals that tend to be created in a hybrid vehicle. Ulimately, water condensation in the crankcase of the ICE [any ICE, not just the hybrid] causes a white gel-like gunk.

In days of yor, there were lots of muffler shops. For years mufflers have been made of stainless steel = less rust through, fewer muffler shops.

 

[Master Blaster]

I assume that you drive it pretty hard, and the gas engine has been running for a while when you pull into your driveway instead of always being on the electric motor at slow speed.

There is a lot of water vapour in the exhaust gases from any combustion engine. A combustion engine is a heat engine, with a lot of water produced as a side-effect. If your engine is not very efficient then the exhaust gas remains very hot until it exits the tailpipe, and does not normally condense out the water unless you are in cold conditions. The hybrid has a more efficient Atkinson-cycle engine that will not heat up the exhaust gas as much, and further has a heat exchanger in the exhaust pipe to recover much of the remaining lost energy from that waste heat. As a side-effect, the much cooler exhaust gases will normally condense the water out even at warmer air temperatures, and it will drip a lot more than other vehicles. Its just water, so nothing to worry about.

 

[Matso]

Good to know. I should spend more time looking over the underbelly.

 

[MaxMav]

To add to all the above, start with the statement above that water is a byproduct of combustion. In a fully warm engine, the water goes out the tailpipe as steam and you don't see it. However before the engine is fully warm, the water doesn't vaporize, therefore drips out to be seen by you.

Actually the water is a vapor(steam) as it exits the combustion chamber but condenses on the cold muffler/exhaust pipe until they warm up sufficiently to prevent condensation. Then the water vapor exits with the other gases

 

[Ozarkbeard]

See attached picture. Water is coming out on driveway. Is this normal?
thx

Use the forum search much?
Scroll to the bottom of this thread to see the multitude of posts on this very thing.

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