Water in exhaust

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saintjamesy89
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Water in exhaust

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Hi all,

There is water coming out of my exhaust, when stood idling for a while it is a couple of drops at any one time, after a drive and a blast it just makes the tarmac/road damp.
The coolant is a rusty brown (originally thought to be cack in the system from being stood for many years and a flush would sort it - haven't gotten around to the flush yet).
The engine gets hot quite quickly, like hot from blowers in a mile or two but doesn't seem to overheat in that the fan cuts in and out seemingly when it should rather than on/off/on/off in short intervals as overheating cars do. The temperature warning lights don't come on, but im not entirely sure they work!
I haven't noticed any white smoke.
The cambelt snapped a while back at starter motor turning speed, but apart from some metallic ticking/clicking sounds when running it doesn't appear to have suffered otherwise.

I would appreciate fellow BXers opinions. Is it HG failure? It runs very well, pulls well and smoothly, feels quite quick for just 105bhp.
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

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Dragon Man
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Dragon Man »

older petrols really make some condensation in the exhaust.. both of my panda 4x4's do it (one carb one injected no cat converter on both)

my panda has warm heaters by the time i get down the end of our street! diesel heaters seem to take forever to warm up, unless you fit auxiliary heaters (something i am tempted to do when my BX hits the road!)

i was told once that back boxes should have a drain hole in them at the lowest point. only a few mm as it stops water sitting in the lowest part. (i have drilled a tiny hole in the back boxes on both of mine and it does work well)

i see you have an LPG car, have you checked to see how much water that makes.. we had one once and it was like a river coming out of the exhaust!

with coolant, if you dont notice it using any.. it cant be using any so it cant be passing through gaskets or cracks..

personally i would not worry about it, if the fan is coming on and going off it should be fine. its when the fan goes on and stays on.. thats not good. (or like mine where the fan never came on at all! good thing the panda has a temperature gauge)

im not sure on PSA engines, but my Fiat engine gets a symptom called "lazy water pump" where at idle the water pump does not spin fast enough to pump the required amount of water around the system. only way to tell is to have the heater fans on full and feel for them going cold. if they go really cold yet the car is hot and up to temp then that could be an issue..? normally a new water ump fixes it..

one of the tricks to wash out the coolant system i was taught by a guy on the panda classic forum was to drop the coolant, fill up with tap water only and stick a few dish washer tablets in the header tank. i did it on my pandas and they both have really clean systems now. when you pull the rad hose off, the clear water that went in turns into a pretty gross rusty brown with tiny lumps in it.. ( leave the tablets in, go for a nice long drive then drain the system) flush it out a few more times, then replace with coolant.


above all..
never skimp out on services and consider taking the car on a really long drive.. it does them wonders!
- JohnDragonMan

Drives: Citroen Dispatch with retrofitted air conditioning 8)
Classic Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley named Talon (long term storage)

always buy base spec. that way you have the fun of putting all the cool bit on your vehicle :mrgreen:
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Defender110 »

Yes I would say nothing to worry about just condensation in the exhaust. All cars do it and it is especially prone to low mileage cars which don't get chance to dry out any water collected in the silencer. Many classic car enthusiasts drill a little hole at the lowest point of the silencer to aid draining and prevent premature exhaust corrosion.

If your not putting any coolant in the system then it isn't using any, BX diesels do warm up very quickly which is a great bonus in winter. Not sure about petrols.
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Dragon Man »

Defender110 wrote:BX diesels do warm up very quickly which is a great bonus in winter.
this is good news :D is that the heaters warm up quick or the engine gets to optimal temperature quick :?: :?: ?
Last edited by Dragon Man on Mon Oct 10, 2016 11:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- JohnDragonMan

Drives: Citroen Dispatch with retrofitted air conditioning 8)
Classic Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley named Talon (long term storage)

always buy base spec. that way you have the fun of putting all the cool bit on your vehicle :mrgreen:
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saintjamesy89
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by saintjamesy89 »

This is the thing, it did use to use water. I check it every time I drive it now. It had a new radiator and water pump back in April, and since then used a little bit of water noticably, but I haven't noticed it using any the last couple of months.

Thanks for the reassurance chaps!
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Defender110 »

Dragon Man wrote:[quote="Defender110"BX diesels do warm up very quickly which is a great bonus in winter.
this is good news :D is that the heaters warm up quick or the engine gets to optimal temperature quick :?: :?: ?[/quote]

Both, one goes hand in hand with the other.
Kevan
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Dragon Man »

maybe you are over filling the coolant tank? i cant speak for my BX but pretty much every car i have had before, if you fill it over a point it drains it off and returns back to a set level. the pandas i have do this.. its just above the "minimum" line.. makes you always think that its using it, but always stays at that level.

Defender, i just wondered, the pandas i have get heat through the vents about 100 yards down the road from my house! but it takes it till about 10-15 mins of driving to reach the usual 90.c it sits at. the heaters are really bad in this crazy panda i am driving at the moment(and this is with a larger engine on a standard radiator which is too small for it!).. the other one i have, the heaters get that hot, it melted an air freshener! it actually burns your hand if you hold it over the vent on full heat.. yet that car has a smaller engine, correct sized brand new radiator and never gets over temp (sits at the normal 90.c!)

i am considering installing a temperature gauge to my BX rather than the "cooked gasket" light and "warped head" light it comes with.. how come some BX's have a proper temperature gauge and some do not anyway? :/
- JohnDragonMan

Drives: Citroen Dispatch with retrofitted air conditioning 8)
Classic Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley named Talon (long term storage)

always buy base spec. that way you have the fun of putting all the cool bit on your vehicle :mrgreen:
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saintjamesy89
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by saintjamesy89 »

I suppose it could be that, it doesn't have an expansion tank, just a plastic reservopir on the side of the radiator in black plastic - so you can't see where the water level is, the few times i thought it'd lost water was when I couldn't see the level from the readiator cap hole, and the insert thingy is hopeless to get a snese of the level.

I need to do a flush anyway, so then can keep an eye on the colour of the coolant and will carry on checking the level. I have a coolant temp gauge to fit also.
Cheers
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Kitch »

Driving around with gunky brown coolant was a bad idea, to be fair. Until you've flushed it and started again, I don't think you can go much further.

Otherwise a coolant sniffer test or a leakdown test would be worthwhile, just to eliminate something sinister and put your mind at rest.
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saintjamesy89
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Coolant flush done today, finally! A little bit of water coming from the exhaust initially but I used the holt two stage flush jobby and after the first 30mins fast idle I didn't notice any coming out. The oil was black and the coolant was dirty/scummy rather than oil stained.

I will keep an eye out, but hopefully it was just condensation.
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Kitch »

Flushing the coolant won't make a jot of difference to water in the exhaust, it'll just prevent your engine from clogging up and overheating.

Condensation comes and goes, so hopefully that's all it is.
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Tim Leech »

As mentioned mine always does it, but doesn't loose any water, next time you park up seal the exhaust off with a rubber glove,
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Kitch »

Tim Leech wrote:As mentioned mine always does it, but doesn't loose any water, next time you park up seal the exhaust off with a rubber glove,
Why? :lol:
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Defender110 »

Kitch wrote:
Tim Leech wrote:As mentioned mine always does it, but doesn't loose any water, next time you park up seal the exhaust off with a rubber glove,
Why? :lol:
Yes why ??
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Re: Water in exhaust

Post by Kitch »

Defender110 wrote:
Kitch wrote:
Tim Leech wrote:As mentioned mine always does it, but doesn't loose any water, next time you park up seal the exhaust off with a rubber glove,
Why? :lol:
Yes why ??
Is your mk1 really an '87 build? I didn't know they made them that late :!:

I would have guessed it was an '86 if I didn't know differently!
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CCC BX registrar: The national BX register - click to submit a car!

1983(A) 16TRS (Rouge Valleunga)
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