I store my 2003 Silverado 1/2 ton over the winter. I drive it
occasionally when the roads are dry, maybe putting on 500 miles in 4
months. Once in awhile I back it out of the garage to get it out of
the way then let it idle a few minutes to let the oil and coolant
circulate and battery charge up. The last couple of times, I’ve seen
water dripping from the bottom seam of the mufler. And it’s left a
trail of water back into the garage when I’ve put it back in. I
assume this is water coming from the converter. The sound from the
exhaust hasn’t changed and I don’t see exhaust coming out of the
mufler. The trucks got 50,000 miles on a 5.3 l engine and with the
original exhaust system. Is the mufler shot?

--
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Thread archive: http://www.AutoBoardz.com/Water-dripping-mufler-ftopict247300.html

"tommyhorse" <none (AT) 000 (DOT) com> wrote

Many factory mufflers are designed to let water drain out of them to prevent
corrosion. If there's an actual seam degraded from rust or acidic corrosion
you should be able to detect an exhaust leak.

"tommyhorse" <none (AT) 000 (DOT) com> wrote

The factory muffer has a small drain hole in the back! Right in the middle
and right above the seam. This lets out the water from condensation when
you first start up the engine. If it doesn't get drained out it rots out
the system. If your just doing short trips all the time, the exhause never
gets fully hot and water will just stay in the system and cuase it to rot
all the more faster then one say being used to Commut. In town driving IS
harder on your car then Highway use. It applies to your exhause along with
other things also.

I'm 99.99% sure your muffer is still good! It's simple enough to get under
your truck and take a peek.

This is normal actually.
It isn't good for the system to be started and not driven in order for the
exhaust to dry out. It needs to be run long enough for all the condensation
to dry; even with the newer stainless steel exhaust systems.
Example: My wife drives 1.2 miles to work and 1.2 miles back (RT), before
stainless steel exhaust systems, we had to have it fixed every 18 months or
less.
With stainless it lasts for 5 years, or some times more.

But my daughter that drives 32 miles to work (RT) has never had any type of
exhaust wear (RUST or COROSSION) problems, before or after stainless.
Greg

"tommyhorse" <none (AT) 000 (DOT) com> wrote

water dripping from the muffler = blown head gasket


"GKShadow" <GKShadow (AT) wowway (DOT) com> wrote

Most O.E. mufflers have a small drain hole on mufflers. normally in the
back, sometimes the front also, on the bottom near the seam of the muffler.
It's perfectly normal for water to leak out there, that's why the holes are
there. It helps get the water out of the muffler. High Humidity in the
air, more water, taking short trips and not letting the exhaust heat up
fully to take care of the water, your going to see more. A lot of times,
especially on Hot days you'll also see water leaking out the front right of
the car also. This is because of the AC. Again it's basically the same
principle as what happens in the Exhaust. Water Vapor in the Air turning
into a solid and collecting and running out. They don't put Stainless
Exhaust pipes into cars just for the hell of it these days. The pipes
don't normally rust from the outside in, but from the inside out.


"GKShadow" <GKShadow (AT) wowway (DOT) com> wrote

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 17:29:02 -0700, "JBDragon" <JBDragon at
someplace dot com> wrote:

It turns into ice?

"scrape" <scrapeNOTHANKS (AT) earthlink (DOT) net> wrote

No it's turning from a Vapor into a Liquid. Think of having a drink of
something cold in a Glass, it gets wet on the outside all around. The glass
isn't leaking, it's picking up the water vapor in the air all around you.
Again turning from a Vapor into liquid.

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 23:37:35 -0700, "JBDragon" <JBDragon at
someplace dot com> wrote:


I get it. I was making a smart ass comment about you saying it
turned into a solid.

Nevermind.

"JBDragon" <JBDragon at someplace dot com> wrote in message
It's perfectly normal for water to leak out there



Sure it is.......if your head gasket is blown.