Hi fellow Jeepers.....

A little while ago I started noticing a small puddle of water under the right-hand side of my jeep when I would fire her up for the first time of the day. When inspecting the puddle couldn't quite tell if there was coolant in it or not, but didn't visibly appear to be. I was sooo hoping it wasn't the dreaded heater-core issue as pulling my entire dash out doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling all over.
So here's the 411.
Jeep: 99 XJ w/ I6 and auto trans.
Issue: a suspected water/coolant leak

Today, was good weather where I am... so when I noticed the puddle after letting the jeep idle for maybe 2ish minutes before taking off as she was ice cold. First start of the day.
I parked her again.. and slid underneath to see if I could find the source or at least where it was leaking off of to the ground.
And found that it was coming from inside the exhaust pipe and leaking out from a now corroded hole in the front end (engine side) of the muffler.
I know a little condensation is normal for most vehicles to come out the pipe, but dripping a puddle from right there?
I just wanted to make sure that I was safe in just replacing the failing muffler (think it may be orig. to the jeep)... but wanted to make sure the quantity of condensation appearing there was not a sign of something going wrong further up stream.

Thanks!

 

Gasoline engines produce quite a bit of water when they are running. Usually the entire exhaust system is hot enough to keep the water as steam so it exits. Once the metals cool down, the steam condenses and you get water. Combustion gasses and water create some NASTY harsh chemicals that will eventually corrode the exhaust system. Mufflers have small holes so that any water can drain out but over time they will rust. My Cadillac had a stainless exhaust that will slow down the corrosion but eventually the chemicals will win no matter what. Burning gasoline creates nasty stuff.

 

That's perfectly normal. In fact, the hole is there purposefully to let the water drip out. You'd be surprised by the amount of water that can condense inside a cold exhaust system. Remember that the two primary components of gasoline combustion are carbon dioxide and water.

Edit: I see I was beaten to the punch.

 

Thanks.... I knew some was normal as a bi-product of the combustion in any normal gasoline/petrol engine. But it just seemed like there was more than I expected there to be is all. So wanted to make sure there wasn't something further up stream from it that could be causing that condition.
The hole... I didn't mean one that was intentionally put into the muffler... meant that it had corroded enough for their to be a decent hole, maybe a few mils across.
That would explain it being at start up more while the whole system isn't up to temp yet.

I still feel like doing a little snoopy dance that I found out that it was NOT the heater core as that's on the same side as the exhaust on my 99.
Once funds are available, I will replace it.

 

I have never seen mufflers made with weep holes. On every vehicle ive owned or driven, the only water was out of the tailpipe. Anywhere else was because the pipes or the muffler was rusted thru, or a loose fit.

 

You have to pressurize the cooling system to actually determine that.

 

Well thanks for raining on my campfire... meanie... lol.

Okay... well I don't think I have an issue with the heater-core at this time. Maybe tackle a flush sometime this summer when I can find a way to do it. Moved back from overseas recently so haven't bought a house where I'm at now. I miss having that as it does present some challenges for working on your own vehicles (which I've always done for many, many moons)

 

Coin operated carwashes are found most anywhere! In my younger days, I worked on many vehicles at night in a quiet car-wash. lol.