WATER COMING FROM EXHAUST

It is common to see water coming out of the tailpipe in the morning. Most of time water accumulates in the exhaust system due to the difference in the exhaust to air temperature that occurs overnight. This condensation is common and only happens upon initial startup. The only time to be concerned about that water coming out of the tail pipe is when the water begins to have a sweet smell. A strong sweet smell is an indication that there is a headgasket issue causing coolant to leak into the combustion chamber which then gets burned on startup. This burning of the coolant creates a sweet smell that goes away within a few minutes (once it is all burned out of the cylinder where the leak occurs). In most cases you can determine which cylinder the leak is in by removing the spark plug and looking down into the cylinder. If the piston is silver and not black then that is a good indication that the steam created by the coolant being burned is actually cleaning the black carbon (created from burned fuel) from the piston top. If you see this then there is definately a problem with coolant leaking into the combustion chamber of that one cylinder.

Coolant getting into one or more cylinders is not always caused by a head gasket issue. For example, a faulty intake manifold gasket is possible. In certain engines, the coolant path to the heater control valve passes through the intake manifold proximate to chamber apertures. Particularly watch for this problem if the intake manifold has recently been removed, e.g., to replace the water pump. Failure to properly replace/seal the intake manifold gasket may result in coolant leakage between the coolant path and one or more cylinders.