I recently posted about my sons 2006 TL having transmission problems and had resolved to having the transmission rebuilt by a reputable local shop. He started the car this afternoon as we were going to take it over to the shop and I notice a tremendous amount of water gushing out of one of the tailpipes. I had him rev the engine and a ton more water continued to come flushing out. I had him shut it down to avoid doing any more damage. My guess is a blown head gasket, but I have never seen anything like this before. I am going to do some of the checks to verify blown head gasket (check oil for milk shake, bubbles in the radiator) but can you think of any other reason this much water would be in the exhaust? Needless to say if the head gasket is blown, combined with a blown transmission, the car will be sold for parts. Totally bummed out right now...

 

cant guess.
it's like looking up your symptoms on WebMD... everything you read will make it look like you have cancer.
diagnose it correctly and your blood pressure wont be so high.
a blown head gasket is an easier and cheaper fix than the transmission...

 

It's almost for sure just condensation from combustion and nothing is wrong.

The ECU is relearning.
The car's probably been taking a lot of short trips in the recent past due to the trans issue.
Weather is now getting cooler.

A big HG failure would show clouds of steam coming from the tailpipe.

The coolant enters the combustion chamber.
It gets turned into steam.
It goes out the exhaust.

HG's sometimes dont allow fluid into the combustion chamber. They may show up as combustion gasses entering the coolant. Or oil/coolant mix.

Signs of this...
after driving a while, the overflow tank is over full. after letting it cool down...the tank STAYS full.

discolouration or smell of combustion gasses present in the coolant.

oil/coolant are gray because they're mixing.

No heat in the vents with the heater on. But engine is overheating.

 

Thanks for the reply. I checked the oil to look for milkshake and was perfectly fine. Also popped the radiator cover to check for bubbles while running and was fine. I am inclined to think condensation but the amount of water shooting out the tailpipe was unreal. I will run it for a while tomorrow to let it reach temp and see if it stops. It also doesn’t make sense to be HG since it seems to run fine, no stuttering, misses or CEL. If that much water we’re passing through the combustion chamber it would certainly have misses. Hoping for the best.

 

If the trans is fine, drive it around. The ECU has to reset. The exhaust systems needs to be heated up and the condensation should blow out.
Hope that's all it is...

 

What do you mean the ECU needs to reset? Also I don't think I was very clear with my original post. The transmission is still pooched and needs to be rebuilt. Was going to drop it at the shop yesterday until I saw the large amount of water shooting from the tailpipe. Will let the car get up to temp today and see if the condensation issue is resolved. If so, then I will move forward with transmission rebuild.

 

ECU will come later, after the trans.

 

If your battery wasn't unplugged or the ECU memory has not been manually cleared, theb it does not have to do a relearn.

If the ECU has been reset by unplugging the battery or any other manual means....then it has to "relearn" to run correctly again. This takes like ....a few days of driving cycles, typically.

After your trans work is done...your ECU will have been reset due to the battery being unplugged.