I sprayed up my car exhaust; is my car okay?

Question

I sprayed water with a garden hose up the exhaust on my Mazdaspeed3 while washing my car. I usually just spray it up for a second or two...

Today, however, I sprayed it up until the water started flowing backwards on me while I'm still spraying inwards. (Maybe 5 seconds)

BTW, my car was on a slight incline while I was cleaning the car - nose pointing upwards.

I took the car out for a drive for about 10 minutes after the wash to heat up the exhaust and let the water evaporate. Everything seems to be normal. Could anything have happened to the exhaust system e.g. catalytic converters, etc?

Answer 1

While it's not a good idea to spray water up your cars exhaust system it usually wont hurt much.

Let me explain the exhaust usually rusts out from the inside due to condensation building in the system and then drying out.

If lots of water does reach the catalytic converter it can cause problems but it is highly unlikely unless it was submerged in water.

Answer 2

you will be OK but why do that?, what were you thinking?

Answer 3

not sure what you are triing to accomplish by your random act of stupidity ..the exhaust doesn't need to be hosed out and you are in danger of destroying the exhaust along with causing drivabilty problems.

Answer 4

If this was only for 5 seconds and being the car was pointed upwards, I do not see any problem. With all the bends in the tail pipe, I doubt that the hose water got that far.

Answer 5

I wouldnt sweat it. The exhaust gets hot enough to burn almost anything including itself. The water would have to travel uphill to even reach the engine.