1998 S70 GLT Excessive Steam from Exhaust

ferocity02 · Post by **ferocity02** » 11 Nov 2015, 09:33

Ever since I've had this car I noticed that it seems to steam out of the exhaust when cold for an excessively long period of time while other cars on the road aren't steaming. Both coolant and oil levels are stable.

My wife drives the car and uses it for short trips mostly, averaging ~3 miles per trip I'd guess. My thought was that these short trips are leading to the collection of water condensation inside the exhaust or muffler. Due to the lack of long trips, it never gets a chance to burn off.

Is this an "issue" on these cars? On my 335i the mufflers collect an amazing amount of water. I drained out about a gallon once! The solution was to drill a small hole (~1/16) in the bottom of the muffler which lets the water drain out slowly.

Post by **abscate** » 11 Nov 2015, 09:58

Those short trips are killers. You do have massive amounts of water in your exhaust, in addition, your PCV will plug on an early P80 car (pre1999).

Do the glove test on your car immediately - you can save yourself 1000s of repair $$$$ if you catch this early

ferocity02 · Post by **ferocity02** » 11 Nov 2015, 14:16

abscate wrote:Those short trips are killers. You do have massive amounts of water in your exhaust, in addition, your PCV will plug on an early P80 car (pre1999).

Do the glove test on your car immediately - you can save yourself 1000s of repair $$$$ if you catch this early

The entire PCV system was replaced 10k ago, as well as all vacuum lines replaced and the PTC valve cleaned. It passes the balloon test just fine.

Post by **mecheng** » 11 Nov 2015, 15:24

I noticed the same thing with my T5, never had any issues with the engine or exhaust. I wouldn't worry about it

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 11 Nov 2015, 16:55

ferocity02 wrote: Is this an "issue" on these cars?

Its an issue on every car. Short trips don't allow for enough heat to build up and boil off any water in the system.

Post by **scot850** » 11 Nov 2015, 19:46

Our old 98 V70XC in low temps, used to leave everything behind it in a cloud until it was fully warm. The issue lessened when the car was given an occasional long run to fully dry the muffler system out. Also worth checking your SAS pump is not full of moisture. The valve at the top of the turbo fails and allows moisture to drain down into the pump. I'm convinced this allows moisture to be drawn back up when cold.

Neil.

Post by **erikv11** » 11 Nov 2015, 20:57

scot850 wrote:... Also worth checking your SAS pump is no longer installed ...

Fixed that for you.

Ou2mame · Post by **Ou2mame** » 11 Nov 2015, 21:17

Try driving the car on line trips once in a while. My gf drives her car about 2 miles to the train station, so I make sure to take it on long trips on the weekends at least, if for nothing else but to charge the battery.

ferocity02 · Post by **ferocity02** » 11 Nov 2015, 21:17

scot850 wrote:Our old 98 V70XC in low temps, used to leave everything behind it in a cloud until it was fully warm. The issue lessened when the car was given an occasional long run to fully dry the muffler system out. Also worth checking your SAS pump is not full of moisture. The valve at the top of the turbo fails and allows moisture to drain down into the pump. I'm convinced this allows moisture to be drawn back up when cold.

Neil.

I can feel the SAS pump sucking in air from the hose that connects to the airbox, so it's working. I suppose I can check it for moisture and see if the check valve on top of the turbo is working. Unfortunately I can't delete the pump for emissions reasons.

Post by **erikv11** » 11 Nov 2015, 22:02

Alas. FWIW, if Californians are looking for working, used SAS pumps and SAS valves, I have some I am happy to send out. Especially the 850 pumps. $5 per part plus shipping. Just taking up space in my garage.