Hi,

I'm new to Ranger-forums and my search did not turn up a threat specific to my concern (could have been my poor search ability). I recently purchased a 2009 Ranger Sport 4x4 with the 4.0L V6. The truck runs really well, especially considering it has 187K on the odometer. My concern is the amount of water and condensation dripping from my tailpipe and even through the muffler. No indication of coolant in the water, in fact its completely clear. No billowing puffs of white smoke when idling or driving. In fact, when I drive it, the tailpipe is dry (assuming the heat just evaporating the water more quickly). I know condensation from the exhaust is common, but this just seems like a lot. I mean, if I idle the truck for 10-15 minutes, the driveway is really pretty wet from all the water dripping from the tailpipe and muffler weep holes. I also notice an intermittent resonating sound from the muffler, rear exhaust (almost similar the sound you'd hear from a worn steering pump when you turn the wheel into the limits).

I noticed shortly after I got the truck that the coolant reservoir was empty...which seemed odd to me, so I refilled and it hasn't seemed to have lost any coolant. I purchased a combustion leak tester kit and ran a test today. No color change in the fluid, which indicates no exhaust gases in the cooling system . I did run the test at operating temperature, disconnected the reservoir line from the radiator because I kept drawing coolant into the test tube from the reservoir (duh, took me 3 failed tries before I realized why I kept contaminating the test fluid). Happily, I hope this means no cracked head, blown head gasket or cracked block. So, now the question is...why so much condensation? It's cool here in Maryland right now (40-50s) but not overly cold. Should I be worried about this or just drive it and forget about it?

 

Welcome to the forum

When you burn hydrocarbons(H) using Oxygen(O) you will get a by product of H2O(water) as a vapor in the exhaust
This is why exhaust systems rust from the inside out, and tail pipes drip water
The colder it is outside the more water vapor will condense on the cooler tail pipe surfaces and it drips out, in warmer weather most of the water vapor goes out as vapor so less dripping

If the air outside is humid that will added to the amount of water coming out the exhaust, humid air is sucked in to the engine and its just turned to steam/vapor and then condenses in the exhaust pipes

When you shut off the engine, any water vapor in the exhaust system will condense and pool in lower areas, rusting starts
When engine is restarted and exhaust heats back up, any liquid water will get hot enough to turn to vapor again and you get a bit more water coming out

 

..drive it. Likely means your cats are working OK too, no?

Mark your hot 'n cold reservoir levels on level ground and track it.

 

Thanks! Yeah, I knew some amount of water was normal, but it just seemed like a lot. I'll keep an eye on that reservoir.

 

Always a wise idea

 

Hey Marstons99,
Just got a ranger same engine and year and noticed lots of water off the tail pipe. How's yours? was not related to any engine issues ?