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[BridgeyBoy]

Hi all

I have read on here that its common for the old 3.0 V6 to 'steam' a bit from the exhaust, especially in this cold weather. Mine seems to billow the stuff out though even when fully warmed up and after a decent run. When stopped at lights or in traffic you get pretty much a constant stream of white steamy cloud wafting past the passenger window... feels like I'm on a 747 at 30,000 feet...

Anyway, Im not really concerned about it as such - car doesn't run hot, doesn't lose coolant, no signs of oil in coolant etc but is there anything that can be done to reduce the problem.. additives, breather clean etc?

By the way, its a 97 'P' 3.0 V6 auto in near perfect condition which has been well serviced and looked after with no running issues at all.

[amba]

Same here mate  and its being doing it now for the last 145k miles with no ill effects so don,t worry.

Its the vast amount of pipework under the car that needs to get fully warmed up and dry out any moisture before the "steam " goes.Thsi time of year it can take a fair while

[robson]

And mine I look at other cars at the traffic lights  and no steam whilst I watch a cloud behind mine.

[Kevin Wood]

It's a normal byproduct of burning fuel, so not really anything you can do. Your central heating boiler does it, and you don't worry.

I suspect it's worse than other cars because the Omega has a large exhaust system which can sink a lot of heat, meaning that the gases are so cool by the time they get to the pail pipe that they condense immediately.

Also, a lot of cars these days are diseasel, and they are pulling a lot more air through at idle, meaning that the humidity added by the fuel is a smaller proportion.