Sometimes while driving in the traffic, I come across a car or two which would be dripping water-like drops from its exhaust steadily in 4-5 second intervals. I tried to ask a couple of people at the local workshops; they say, and I quote, "The car is giving an amazing mileage". And I am like, what does that water dripping mean even then?
Question is: Why does the water drip? What is the source of it? And what does it signify?
It signifies that the car is running absolutely correct. Here is the reason why:
A gasoline (petrol) molecule is made up as such:
C8H18 (or 8 Carbon atoms and 18 Hydrogen atoms)
Energy is obtained from the combustion of it by the conversion of a hydrocarbon to carbon dioxide and water. The combustion of octane follows this reaction:
2 C8H18 + 25 O2 → 16 CO2 + 18 H2O
Or better said, you have two of the hydrocarbon molecules along with 25 oxygen molecules, they swirl together into a mix, the spark plug ignites them, boom, and out the tail pipe comes 16 carbon dioxide molecules and 18 water molecules ... at least in a perfect world. Some cars don't put out exactly that ratio. There may be a little bit of carbon monoxide (CO), unburnt hydrocarbons (C8H18), and/or nitrogen oxide (NO2) coming out of the engine exhaust port along with the CO2 and H2O. In this case, the catalytic convertor's job is to help clean these up so you can get closer to the perfect ratio described above.
As described, the water coming out of the tail pipe is a natural occurrence of the combustion process. You will usually see it coming out of the tail pipe when the engine and exhaust system of the vehicle is not completely warmed up. When it does become completely warmed up, you won't see it any more, because it comes out as steam (well, you'll see it in the winter time if it's cold enough, but you get the idea).
Every gallon of fuel your vehicle burns produces a gallon of water out of the exhaust. If the weather is cold you will see it as steam. If the rear of the exhaust system is still cold even in warm weather it will be for a short time after start-up, you will see the drips. On a hot engine/exhaust you will not see any drips from the tail-pipe. If there are drips, or water, coming out the exhaust on a hot system you are proberbly seeing an engine water leak - most likely head gasket.
The car has not been driving long. As the others have said, the water comes from the combustion of the fuel. When the exhaust system is cold, it cools the exhaust enough that the water can condense. After a while of operation, the exhaust system heats up. The same water vapor is present in the exhaust, but it stays vapor and doesn't drip.
