Moisture coming from exhaust pipe??

reverendjim

reverendjim

Member
Greetings Gents,

I just came in from the garage where I cranked my Model A and for the first time I noticed water coming from the exhaust. It seemed to stop after the engine warmed up a little. The car hasn't been sarted in a week or so and it is rather humid here. Could this be the reason? Is it normal to see some moisture (my 95 Lincoln drips a little) from the Model A? Should I be concerned about a head gasket leak. I am also losing coolant from the radiator through the overflow even though the engine does not "boil over" could these be related?

Thanks in advance,
James
 
Liquid water is of no concern; it's condensed water vapor that is part of the exhaust gases as a normal part of combustion of hydrocarbons, -CH2-:

-CH2- + 1.5 O2 --> CO2 + H2O

When the muffler cools down, the vapor condenses. Humid weather might aggravate the situation a bit by slowing down the evaporation of the condensed water as it sits in the muffler waiting to be blown out the next time the engine is started.

If a head gasket were blown, lots of steam would come pouring out when the motor is started. If you are using antifreeze, you'll get billows of white smoke with a sweet smell to it, as well as a host of other issues including blowing the coolant out the overflow. However, if the gasket is blown, that is commonly an almost explosive process, getting around all but the most heroically sealed radiator cap. I gather this is not your situation, so, your coolant loss problem is probably the very common one of too much flow (especially at highway speed) for your radiator. You can get a "block tester" at NAPA stores that lets you check for combustion gases in the coolant.

The first straw to grasp at is to be sure you're not trying to keep it too full; as long as coolant is over the top of the tubes when cold, you're ok. I use a wooden coffee stirrer dipstick to get around the baffle. Your next thing to do is to install some sort of a restrictor--most folks use a thermostat for this purpose. If you read enough, you will find advice to grind down the vanes on the water pump to reduce its output--if you read more, you will find a lot more folks advise against this. Of course, it is possible that you actually do have a slight compression leak by the head gasket (but not blown), which would push out coolant when running under load. I predict that, eventually, you'll bite the bullet and get a new radiator and your coolant loss problem will be solved.

Your dripping water problem might be aggravated if the car is not run long enough to get the exhaust system good and hot. Installing a thermostat will help.

Steve
 
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Thanks so much. I have already ordered the thermostat. The radiator appears to not be the original. It has around 9 fins per inch and when I had the water pump off to replace the fan blade the impeller did not appear to have been ground so I thought that I would try the thermostat as a restrictor. The water just alarmed me a little. For some reason I am just not comfortable with this machine yet. A few years ago I purchased a 1922 Touring car that was, as far as we can tell, all orginal and with in a month of getting it I drove it on a 300 mile weekend tour, but for some reason I just have not been able to do that with this one. Maybe before long I can get more familiar with it and gain some confidence.
Thanks Again,
James
 
reverendjim said:
Greetings Gents,

I just came in from the garage where I cranked my Model A and for the first time I noticed water coming from the exhaust. It seemed to stop after the engine warmed up a little. The car hasn't been sarted in a week or so and it is rather humid here. Could this be the reason? Is it normal to see some moisture (my 95 Lincoln drips a little) from the Model A? Should I be concerned about a head gasket leak. I am also losing coolant from the radiator through the overflow even though the engine does not "boil over" could these be related?

Thanks in advance,
James
Click to expand...

As mentioned above the water from tailpipe and humid day is normal and most likely not related to overflow problem.

About losing water from overflow ... checkout this post from sometime ago:


This first posting should help:

To clarify the pictures 887 and 888 ... the overflow pipe needs to be toward the rear of the car.

http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showpost.php?p=39110&postcount=7

The above posting is just one of the responses from a long drawn out exchange which can be found here:

http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6524&highlight=Re:+Loosing+water+revisited
 
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I looked at the overflow and it ws strait up at the 9 o'clock position. I was able to carefully push it to the back and center, around 11:55, I will run it and see how that does. Also after looking i may well be filling it a little too full in the first place and therefore it is simply regulating its self. If it is not too miserably hot here today I may get her out and drive alittle and see what happens. I think I will still put a thermostat in as well, just for good measure.

Thanks Again,
James
 
If you think about all those Model A's running all those years without thermostats, I really question the need for one now.
 
I was also losing coolant when I first got mine, and people here recomended I ck the o/flow tube. It was towards the front, I "formed" it to the rear AND added a short piece of hose (gas line or vac hose to bring it up to just under the cap. I also installed a t/stat. No more puking and once it finds it's "level" e/thing is fine. My two cents.
Paul in CT
 
1931 flamingo said:
I was also losing coolant when I first got mine, and people here recomended I ck the o/flow tube. It was towards the front, I "formed" it to the rear AND added a short piece of hose (gas line or vac hose to bring it up to just under the cap. I also installed a t/stat. No more puking and once it finds it's "level" e/thing is fine. My two cents.
Paul in CT
Click to expand...


I wondered if it was possible to extend that overflow a little, I may give that a try. I drove it about 6 miles yesterday and the red on the motometer stayed below the window (it was nearly 100 degrees here) and the old car ran well, with pretty good power. When I got home and backed in the garage it puked out water as usual. The previous owner told me that back when they drove it often they would have to stop every 50 miles or so and add water. The water level is nearly to the top of the tank, so it may still just be over full. It did not get hot enough to boil or generate any noticable steam.

Thanks,
James
 
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