Should I be worried about this?

[EJD]

Obviously things shouldn't be leaking from your vehicle, but while i am doing my brake line job I noticed this:

There appears to be water dripping/spraying out of this area here, cracking, rusting going on. Just curious on how vital this may or may not be. I have no idea.

 

[Chris]

Is that the muffler? If so, don't worry about it. It's normal for some water to drip from the muffler / tailpipe.

Water dripping from an exhaust pipe immediately after starting the car is a perfectly normal reaction caused by the combustion in the engine. If water still drips from the tailpipe after the engine has been running for a few minutes, it may be the sign of a serious problem.

 

[Rob5589]

It is condensation, not a bad thing but, that muffler is shot. I would be surprised if it were to pass a smog inspection, if you are required to do so that is.

 

[EJD]

Is that the muffler? If so, don't worry about it. It's normal for some water to drip from the muffler / tailpipe.

Water dripping from an exhaust pipe immediately after starting the car is a perfectly normal reaction caused by the combustion in the engine. If water still drips from the tailpipe after the engine has been running for a few minutes, it may be the sign of a serious problem.

Haha, yeah its the muffler. I had one of the "hangers" rust out so bad it snapped, so I had to u-bolt it to something because when the hanger broke, apparently it dropped so low that a nut on the side of one of the fittings was touching my inner sidewall of my rear passenger tire and shaving off rubber on every revelation...wtf on my new tires. (Don't even wanna show you that picture).

Water is coming from a crack in the muffler not from the tailpipe, so I didn't know if it was different.

It is condensation, not a bad thing but, that muffler is shot. I would be surprised if it were to pass a smog inspection, if you are required to do so that is.

No safety or emissions inspections required here! Only a VIN inspection, which is a waste of time.

I was thinking I might look into a new muffler/tailpipe kit if thats a doable solo project.

Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Yep that's normal. Many (most?) mufflers have a little drain hole drilled into the bottom at the rear to let the condensation drain out so it doesn't rust the muffler out from the inside. When you replace it, keep a stainless steel muffler in mind... or remember to drill a small hole (3/32-1/8" or thereabouts) yourself if the muffler doesn't come with one.

 

[RaymondT]

Walker exhaust stuff is pretty cheap for stock applications. There are so many companies offering fancy bling exhaust systems costing serious coin. Most are hype.

http://www.walkerexhaust.com/catalog/walker-exhaust-systems/e-catalog-lookup

 

[Chris]

Anyone have any recommendations?

Go to your local exhaust shop and have them replace it with a decent Magnaflow or Flowmaster muffler. Any good exhaust shop can easily take care of something like this.

I'd go with stainless steel as others have suggested.

 

[Ahoragi]

Better fix that or the tire will fall off, mirror will crack, and hood will pop open at 55mph. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

My muffler had a 6" horizontal hole on the side so I bought a SS Bank's exhaust and it's rusting. (sigh)