[CareTaker]

My 1995 Ford Windstar van has a place along the exhaust system ahead of the muffler which allows water (resulting from combustion) to drip out. I don't see anything similar with the 2007 Sienna van I just bought. Does this mean very short drives would leave water in the exhaust system and rust out the muffler? I realize longer drives would heat up the system enough to evaporate the water; also the combustion process would be more efficient after the engine reaches normal operating temps. I also note that temperature stays around the middle of the gauge all the time on long drives with the Sienna, where as in the Windstar, the temperature would get very high, then drop quickly once the two fans came on. This was supposed to keep the engine running most efficiently.

 

[dandaman]

If it's even remotely humid outside you have moisture inside your exhaust. Your exhaust is an open pipe on one end, any ambient moisture is going to collect in it as it would on anything outside. That also means any leftover moisture is going to evaporate like water on the ground. Your exhaust also heats up in only a minute or two and has very hot air moving through it. To get water to build up we're talking a drive of only a block with no idle time.

As for the temperature gauge, there are two things at work:

1. The old Ford gauge temperature senders are very inaccurate. They read almost nothing until you're near operating temps, then they shoot up when you're around 10-15 degrees of your thermostat temp. So what you are seeing are only 5-10 degree variations in the coolant temp, which are normal. I have a 93 Ranger and Ford uses the same sender set up on all their vehicles.

2. Both the 3.0 and 3.8 had poor coolant routes that made it easy to get air trapped in the system. That would cause issues like you saw. Not to mention that the 3.8 had head gasket failures so frequently they could've been considered a feature.

 

[Mergatroyd]

The normal exhaust gases of an engine is composed of a surprising percentage of water vapor. Natural gas has the highest percentage, almost 67%. At startup the hot exhaust gas hits the cold metal of the exhaust system and condenses to liquid. Notice the visible vapor from car exhaust in cold weather. As the exhaust heats up, the water no longer condenses to liquid.

 

[CareTaker]

Hey, I know people in DeWitt Ia. I visited them one year ago!

 

[Fibber2]

In my experience, Ford had at least one really great idea on our 2000 Windstar - the button fob for the twin power sliding doors. It required two clicks, much like a computer mouse, to initiate open or close. I never had accidental door activation, unlike my experience with our Honda Odyssey or our two Sienna vans that too often are triggered by accident in my pocket.

 

[CareTaker]

Thank you very much. I too have accidentally triggered the fob.