am i hurting my car? Options

[chandy1986]

Hi i'm Chandy. I was wondering if they way I drive can hurt my car. Because my car has a 7afe I'm trying to be very economical. So I shift really early. What happens to my car if I drive it in the low rpms? I'm a little worried about the water that comes out the muffler because it is below freezing here in mass.

[jc47]

If you make a lot of short trips, water can build up in the exhaust system. I've never heard of any problems due to freezing, but it can cause (or accelerate) corrosion over time. Especially if it is cold outside, I'd make sure that you are making at least an occasional longer trip to get the engine fully warmed up and and get all of the water out. This will also help keep the battery charged, etc.

[rjbibeau]

If you make a lot of short trips, water can build up in the exhaust system. I've never heard of any problems due to freezing, but it can cause (or accelerate) corrosion over time. Especially if it is cold outside, I'd make sure that you are making at least an occasional longer trip to get the engine fully warmed up and and get all of the water out. This will also help keep the battery charged, etc.

also short trips causes water condenstation to build up within the oil pan, so try to minimize short trips and add some longer trips in there to evaporate the condenstation...as far as the water coming from the tail pipe...this means your catalytic converter is working, by means of a chemical reaction, your cat extracts harmful gasses and turns them into H20 in the liquid state.