Questions and Answers

Exhaust Fluid Q. Hi, I hope that you can answer a question for me. I recently purchased a 1988 Ford Taurus. It Has a 3.8 liter front wheel drive V-6. It has 64,000 original miles on it. Automatic transmission. Air conditioning and power steering. The transmission has been replaced with a new one and a new torque converter and a transmission cooler.

What my question is, that when the car is setting idling a fluid comes out before the muffler. It doesn't smell like antifreeze and don't taste sweet like it either. When I put a little on my tongue (I know sounds stupid) it tastes acidy like battery acid. What is this fluid, do you have any idea? Is it anything to worry about? Oh yeah, the car doesn't overheat at all and the air conditioner works fine.

I also was told that these engines were known for having head gasket problems. Is this true? I hope that you can help me? Please reply soon!

Thank you very much!
Brent

A. When you have combustion, you have waste by-products. In the case of engine combustion you get waste products such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, sulfuric acid and water, among others. What you see dripping from your exhaust system is basically sulphuric acid and water that has condensed inside the pipe. That is why it has a similar taste to battery acid which also contains sulphuric acid. (I don't recommend tasting unknown fluids.) This is what causes exhaust systems to rot out. Some exhaust systems put small drain holes in the exhaust to allow this fluid to drain out.

If a car is driven for long stretches at a time, the exhaust system gets hot enough to prevent these gases from condensing and thus the exhaust system lasts longer. Cars driven for short hops never get hot enough to prevent condensation so as a result they tend to rot out quicker.

As for the 3.8 engines tendency to blow head gaskets, this does seem to be true. I have replaced my share of them and it does seem that I do more Ford 3.8's than any other.

Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA