question

[dirka-dirka]

The wife has just called me and said it took 3 attempts to start the car today, once started it seemed fine, turned the engine of, and what she described as steam not exhaust fumes kept coming out of both (its a s211s, so exhaust cut off) exhausts for about 5 mins.

she says water level fine and the max temp it got to after 15 mins (didnt drive it) was 88 deg

any advice?

[philthy]

Im guessing its been sitiing for a while and it was outside when started?
Its cold outside so that explains the steam, wont go away til the car is up to full temp. the battery is prob just going flat, mine keeps doing that, its on a trickle just now.

[robin]

Yes, water is a by product of burning petrol ... when the exhaust is hot it evaporates and then recondenses in the cold air behind the car, but when the exhaust is cold and you switch the engine off before it gets hot, the water pools in the exhaust and then steams away for a while. Almost certainly nothing to worry about.

If the car has been standing, I agree the battery could be the issue; however if the cold starting persists to be an issue when you know the battery is charged then you should be looking for other potential causes, such as fouling spark plugs or coolant leak into bores. If you're at all worried, remove the spark plugs and check they are all the same colour and not (a) shiny clean or (b) oily/sooty black.

Cheers,
Robin

[dirka-dirka]

robin, phil.message passed onto the long haired general. thanks for the help