Fuel leak through Exaust Pipe (HELP)

[Designated_Drifter]

Okay, theres probably a duplicat thread but this is a serious problem and i need some feedback, and dont have time to hunt. Sorry if its in the rong section too.

Car is a 99 Mercury Cougar ATX. It is completely stock.

With that aside, my car is running too rich. In fact, it drips gasoline from the exaust wile running. Black gritty fuel. Im wondering what the cause of the problem could be because my mechanic is on vacation for another week and to avoid countless hours of him tearing my car apart only to find a 2$ gasket broke id like to know if anyone else had a similar problem. Its using enouf fuel that my estimated miles left on the dash goes down by one for each minute the car idles. (let alone drives, yet im still getting around 20 mpg it says).

[Gorman]

that probably isn't fuel dripping out of your exhaust..but water condensate that smells like gas. If it was fuel you would have flames coming out of your exhaust and cherry red headers. Your car probably needs a service. New air filter or wash out your K&N. Clean out your MAF. Clean the oil deposits in the intake rubber pipe. Clean the Throttle body. Seafoam the UIM if you can't take it off to clean it. Check the spark plug wires are clean and tightly connected. Clean and gap or replace spark plugs. Run some decoking solution in your gas tank. If you still haven't improved your fuel consumption after that lot..check back...G.

[mellott73]

yeah thats just condensation its not gas...if i let mine idle for a while it does the exact same thing, its because the pipe doesnt have enough exhaust gas going through it to completely heat the pipe up and evaporate the water vapor, and with it being colder on the outside and warm and humid on the inside of the pipe it builds up condensation and then runs out the back

[c0alition]

How a catalytic converter works..
1. Reduction of nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen: 2NOx → xO2 + N2
2. Oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide: 2CO + O2 → 2CO2
3. Oxidation of unburnt hydrocarbons (HC) to carbon dioxide and water: 2 CxHy + (2x+y/2)O2 → 2xCO2 + yH2O

[Designated_Drifter]

Alright ill try checking all that. But as an update to this issue, my friend has concluded that even tho it smells like gas, its oil. He thinks someone either put oil in my fuel tank or ive got a serious leak somewhere. (cars oil is a month old, and only a thousand miles on it tops.... its not low either) Thanks for the feedback all.

[whitecat99]

I would not rely on your friend for his knowledge of engines. Oil in the gas tank would come out as smoke if there was too much in there. Even if oil is coming from the engine, it would come out as smoke. If so much oil was getting in there so as not to completely go up in smoke, you would get a very thick residue that would clog your catalytic converter and your car would not run very well or not at all.

Gas would burn and possibly come out as smoke also if it was too rich. If you have a liquid coming out of the exhaust, it is most likely either water from combustion (as already explained to you) or possibly coolant from the cooling system. Antifreeze has a sweet smell to it.

[c0alition]

catch some in a cup and light it on fire.. if it burns.. you have a problem ha.. straight forward diagnostic..

edit: well actually.. idk.. it might still burn.. probly not a good idea either way..

[Blackcoog]

What you think is oil is going to be water as stated above with carbon mixed in. It may look like oil but it's not.

[Joemm]

It sounds like your car is possibly running rich.

There could be several reasons but agreed to check the obvious first, air filter, clean the MAF (with the proper cleaner), etc.

A second check is a cylinder balance test. With the engine running, temporarily remove one plug wire at a time (easiest from the coil) and listen to the engine and, if possible, observe change in RPM. A similar change should occur when each wire is disconnected. If one or more cylinders = no or little change (compared to the others), you've nailed a problem to that cylinder(s). Again, plug, wire, coil, valves, piston rings, gasket (vacuum leak) could all be the culprit. Oh yea, use insulated pliers when doing this.

If the above check out OK and the car runs poorly or gas mileage is poor, have it diagnosed by a professional instead of just guessing and replacing parts. Again, injectors, sensors (HEGO/O2 sensor common problem on all cars especially over 50-60 K miles) etc. could be a problem.

Water vapor condensing to liquid water in the exhaust is normal and common on ALL cars not just Cougars or older vehicles.

Finally, agreed that even small amounts of oil would burn and exit the exhaust as blue-white smoke; not as a liquid. If there was that much oil dumping into the cylinders, your car would not or would barely run.

[Designated_Drifter]

Problem has been resolved. Thanks all for your help.