moxie

hi- I have a 1993 3 litre V-6 Frontier ( 250,000 Km) that is dripping clear liquid from the exhaust and blowing white smoke(steam?) from the exhaust. It runs well, there is no odd smell from the exhaust, the oil and coolant look normal. The temperature gauge reads low although there is heat from heater. I don't know if it's using coolant as the vehicle has been off the road for a few years and I just began to monitor investigate things.Any ideas? Is the head gasket shot?

p.s. Ambient temp around freezing up here in Canada

88pathoffroad

It's probably just normal exhaust. In colder weather, it'll do that. If it starts to overheat and you see oil in the water or water in the oil, then you've got real problems (blown head gasket or cracked head). Run a compression test on it if you're worried about a blown head gasket.

__________________
Admin of NPORA, mod for Nissan-Infiniti Forums, NissanForums.com, NissanHelp.com, AllNissans.com and VGPowered Forums
'88 Pathfinder: 6" of lift, 33x13.50 Swamper LTB's, Rancho 9000's, L&P Stage 3 steering system, K&N, Pacesetter headers and 2.5" exhaust, Lock-Right locker, 110A alty and electric fan swap, dual batteries, 700W+ worth of PIAAs, etc.

Bror Jace

Yes, I'd guess that its just cool weather and/or high humidity. If so, this kind of condensation is normal with most vehicles.

Best way to determine if your head gasket is leaking is to spend $20 on a laboratory used oil analysis (UOA). These tests can detect problems before more traditional methods can ... and glycol really accelerates engine wear, even in trace amounts.

Search this site (use "UOA" as keyword) for examples of these lab reports.

__________________
--- Bror Jace