And what is it? Always assumed it was just water but now I’m pretty sure it’s not. Also do all cars do this?

  • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    One byproduct of combustion is water vapors. As molecules get rearranged during the combustion process you are using heat to make the gasoline (a HYDROcarbon, i.e. hydrogen and carbon) react with OXYGEN. So some of it comes out with the hydrogen binding with oxygen creating H2O (water, hydrogen and oxygen) , and others are CO or CO2 (Carbon and oxygen) the leaner the mixture the more likely you get the relatively harmless co2 instead of the deadly CO because the more oxygen rich mixture allows for mpre complete combustion with two oxygen molecules to bind to it making co2 instead of just one binding to it making CO.

    Anywho, those water vapors condense when the exhaust and engine cool into actually liquid since colder air can’t hold as much moisture as the normally hot exhaust. When you start the car that condensed water gets blown to then end of the exhaust and drips out.

    I am probably not 100% accurate on the chemistry, I am just a firefighter that likes to also work on cars. I understand how fire works.

      • doc@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        If your engine is working very poorly. Unburned fuel in your exhaust is a problem large enough that you’ll probably be experiencing a lot of engine trouble.

      • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No, if your car was built in the last 50 years it probably has a catalytic converter, which will burn off any fuel that hasn’t combusted before it gets out of the exhaust. And even so, once you get to the point where you’re having fuel flow out the exhaust it would be flooded to the point well beyond hydro-lock and wouldn’t be running at all.