Question about water coming out of tailpipe of my XJ

I have a Flowmaster Super 40 muffler on my XJ and I wanted to get an exhaust clip to host as video to show to people. I had my brother sit in the driver seat and step on the accelerator to acomplish the engine revs to get a sound clip of the exhaust. As I was recording and he was "accelerating", and at times hard... water would pour out.

Now the story behind this is that I do not drive my XJ often... I only have 29K miles on her. It sits home in the garage for about a month or 2 before I drive it.

Lately, and I do not know if it has something to do with the cold, but my XJ would have trouble starting. Originally it would crank, and crank but wouldnt turn over unless I floored the gas pedal and kept pressing lightly so it wouldnt stall out. I figured the battery was dead (same stock bettery since I purchased my XJ brand new in 2000) so I bought a Red Top and it starts up well, but not without 4-6 cranks. I am going home on Thursday so hopefully I wont have any problems starting her...

Where is the water coming from? Is the water coming out of my exhaust tips harmful?? Does that have anything to do with my long cranking before starting???

You can click on the link below to see the video of my exhaust clip and you'll see the water "spray out":
http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=55674&currentDate=20051227&currentTime=182400

Let me know what you think guys, Thanks!!

Re: Question about water coming out of the tailpipe of my XJ

it is likely just condensation built up in the exhaust system when it gets hot and cools off water will form inside ans get squirted out when there is alot of flow going through. as for the other issues ?

Re: Question about water coming out of the tailpipe of my XJ

funvtec said:

it is likely just condensation built up in the exhaust system when it gets hot and cools off water will form inside ans get squirted out when there is alot of flow going through. as for the other issues ?

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If that is the case... is that harmful? I assume any type of moisture, let alone water, can deteriorate the inside of the exhaust system??

Re: Question about water coming out of the tailpipe of my XJ

Some water is normal, you got to remember a rather large percentage of the air you and your motor breaths is water. If it seems excessive, I usually rev it for minute to move the soot out and then hold a paper towel or something white a couple of inches from the tip, coolant is often tinted, green (red or blue) stains on the paper towel are a sure sign somethings not right. Tinted fluid coming out of the exhaust, usually indicates a leaky head gasket. You can often smell the coolant on the paper towel, if it's a head gasket leak and means gasket leak is pretty dramatic. You'll see some foaming in the radiator and the coolant level will go down pretty quick (in a matter of days).

Re: Question about water coming out of the tailpipe of my XJ

Ghetto2315 said:

If that is the case... is that harmful? I assume any type of moisture, let alone water, can deteriorate the inside of the exhaust system??

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Exhaust systems often rust from the inside out. A little moisture is a good thing, it actually works like a higher octane fuel. Too much can coat the spark plug ends and really mess with starting, misses and other problems. Way to much can cause physical damage to your motor.

So the water has nothing to do with my troubles with starting her huh?

Any ideas about that??

Ghetto2315 said:

So the water has nothing to do with my troubles with starting her huh?

Any ideas about that??

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Its a 2000 with 29,000 miles.....IT DOESNT GET RUN ENOUGH.

The water vapor is usually a sign of high alcohol content fuel (turns to H2O and CO2 vapor when ignited) If you let it sit a lot, the fuel will degrade after 30 days and make it harder to start (octane boost helps)

carnuck said:

The water vapor is usually a sign of high alcohol content fuel (turns to H2O and CO2 vapor when ignited) If you let it sit a lot, the fuel will degrade after 30 days and make it harder to start (octane boost helps)

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Just last month I started to add Stabil Fuel Stabilizer

it won't help much after the fuel goes bad!

carnuck said:

it won't help much after the fuel goes bad!

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Agreed... which is why I siphoned out the old fuel (into my 94 XJ), refuel to the max with fresh fuel and then added the Stabil

From what I remember, the old fuel was not more than 30 days old so it could not of been that bad

Yah, a good running XJ with no exhaust leaks produces water.

This suggestion though is no joke: Drill a small hole in your muffler to let the water drain. Since it appears you drive it a whole bunch (cheek), water will collect in the muffler, and since it is mixed with sulfur dioxide (by product of the cat), your muffler will rust out.

Short run times are hard on the engine and exhaust.

You really should use that XJ more often. 29K on a 5 year old vehicle is silly. That thing should have at least 50K to 70K on it by now.

If you only drive that thing to the mall, you should get something battery powered :laugh3:

Just to throw something out there, at 100% humidity, there is about an ounce (slightly less) of water in a cubic meter of air. A 4.0 liter motor can pump a cubic meter of air pretty quick.
Some mufflers come with a drain hole from the factory.

Ghetto2315 said:

Where is the water coming from? Is the water coming out of my exhaust tips harmful?? Does that have anything to do with my long cranking before starting???

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Water is a by-product of combustion. When the engine's cold, it hasn't had the chance to turn into steam so you see it coming out of the tailpipe. It's even more noticeable if the weather is cold and damp.
Regarding the long cranking, there's a TSB regarding a faulty fuel pump module sealing ring. This causes fuel pressure to leak back so the long cranking is needed to get the fuel pressure back up. Go to the stealership and ask them to check it out and perform the repair procedure. Here's the TSB:

http://www.wjjeeps.com/tsb_list.htm#1400201

Now that I've helped you solve both problems, you owe me two beers.

Zuki-Ron said:

You really should use that XJ more often. 29K on a 5 year old vehicle is silly. That thing should have at least 50K to 70K on it by now.

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Yah! My 2000 has 64k on it... and it's only used as my secondary/winter vehicle!

I've put another 100k on my other car(s) during that time as well!

Den
Use 'em or lose 'em!!

Yes, I'm surprised it took so long to mention it...

Otcane is C8H18 (8 cabon atoms, 18 hydrogen atoms). Add in Oxygen and you get 8 CO2 molecules and 9 H2O molecules.

I.E. you exhaust on a molecular level is more than 50% steam. Thats normal combustion gas, not condensation from atmospheric moisture.

The key is getting exhaust warm. When you first start the engine, the exhaust system is cold, so that vapor condenses into water inside the tailpipe, and you'll see it sputtering out.

Once you drive for a good 10-15 minutes, the exhaust it nice and hot, and the steam exits out of the tailpipe at a high temp.

Ever wonder why in the winter, your exhaust looks steamy first thing, or else on a really really cold day, but then later once you are driving, its not steamy? thats why.

Its quite bad to have water sitting in there. Its not really the rust that does the damage. The other exhaust byproducts will be soluble in the water, and form various acids (sulfuric and hydrochloric) which will really eat at the metal.

So, make sure you drive enough to warm everything up, as much as possible.

Now, in other areas liek crankcase, axles, transmission, etc, they ARE getting condensation from atmospheric moisture, and for the same reasons, its important to get them good and hot to get that out..

yea, now is there some reason burning alchohol would produce more water?
(Dont make me try to remeber how to balance equations!!)

BTW, the water/steam out the exhaust should in no way look/smell of antifreeze.
Thats a whole other story..

Dr. Dyno said:

Water is a by-product of combustion. When the engine's cold, it hasn't had the chance to turn into steam so you see it coming out of the tailpipe. It's even more noticeable if the weather is cold and damp.
Regarding the long cranking, there's a TSB regarding a faulty fuel pump module sealing ring. This causes fuel pressure to leak back so the long cranking is needed to get the fuel pressure back up. Go to the stealership and ask them to check it out and perform the repair procedure. Here's the TSB:

http://www.wjjeeps.com/tsb_list.htm#1400201

Now that I've helped you solve both problems, you owe me two beers.

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Dino, I owe you more than 2 beer for your help over the years :cheers:

Does it matter that the TSB you linked above is for 99-00 WJs?

Ghetto2315 said:

Does it matter that the TSB you linked above is for 99-00 WJs?

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Nope. It applies to all Jeeps from '99-'01 with the 4.0 engine.

A good way to check if its the fuel pump, is to key on, but not crank the engine. Let it sit for 5 seconds to allow the fuel pump to re-prime the rail, thne try starting. If it starts right up, then the fuel pressure may be bleeding off when the engine is not running.