Why Does a Car Exhaust Emit Water? Here Are the Causes and Solutions
You must be curious why the car's exhaust suddenly emits water when the engine is started? Is this condition dangerous or not for the car's health? If it is dangerous, is there a solution to overcome it? Instead of being more curious, let's directly pay attention to the following discussion.
Causes of Why Car Exhaust Emits Water
Car exhaust emitting water when the car is started is normal if your car has just passed through flooded roads. However, what if this happens during the summer? To answer that question, you need to pay attention to several factors causing the car exhaust to emit water as follows.
1. Condensation process in the exhaust pipe
The main cause of car exhaust emitting water is due to the condensation process. This process occurs because of the change of state of a substance from gas to liquid. This usually happens when parking the car overnight and in the morning you start the engine.
At night, the temperature around the car tends to be cold, causing condensation in the exhaust pipe. When you start the car engine in the morning, a heating process occurs in the exhaust pipe. This triggers the evaporation of dew in the exhaust pipe, causing the exhaust pipe to emit water. In very cold weather accompanied by a long parking duration, the water that comes out of the car's exhaust pipe will be even more.
2. Catalytic converter effect
The catalytic converter is a component of the exhaust system that functions to minimize the level of pollutant emissions from exhaust gases. This component will reduce the production of exhaust gases emitted by the exhaust pipe. These exhaust gases contain pollutants such as carbon dioxide. If this substance is exposed to low temperatures, it will change into liquid, causing the exhaust to emit water.
3. Effect of washing the car
Car exhaust that emits water when the engine is heated can also occur when you have just washed the car. This is normal, as there may be residual water trapped inside the exhaust pipe.
4. Damaged piston
Damage to the piston can also cause the car exhaust to emit water. As is known, the piston is a component of the car that functions as a control for the cylinder volume, converting the expansion power in the engine combustion process into mechanical power so that the residual combustion gases are pushed out.
If this component is damaged, the engine combustion performance will be less than optimal, thus disrupting the process of disposing of exhaust emissions. As a result, the exhaust emits water and white smoke.
Solutions to Overcome Exhaust Emitting Water
To address this issue, you can apply the following solutions.
1. Avoid turning off the car engine immediately
If the exhaust emits water when the car is being heated, you are advised not to turn off the car engine immediately. Just let the engine run until the combustion process is optimal so that the water pooling in the exhaust pipe dries quickly.
2. Replace the piston
If the car exhaust emits water due to a damaged piston condition, you need to replace the piston with a new one. A new piston can speed up the engine combustion process, making the exhaust that contains water dry quickly.
3. Service at a workshop
As a last solution, you can take your car to an expert workshop like Daihatsu official workshop. By servicing at an expert workshop, the workshop will accurately analyze the cause of your car's problem so that the maintenance steps can be taken correctly.
