Is it actually water of cooland in the puddle? What might be wrong depends on this
There is some white smoke coming out from where the exhaust manifold and the catalyctic converter meet.
Are you losing coolant? If you are, then you have a problem between the coolant passages and cylinders in the engine.
Are you not losing coolant? It's a normal process of compressing air (can't hold as much water) so the engine is squeezing out the water and blowing it out the exhaust. When the exhaust system gets hot enough, you probably won't see any water except in the cold winter months.
Well it it using water or coolant and are you adding it or not? If you are not then maybe its normal but if its going down you have a leak inside so check the plugs and look for a really clean one or two then compression check those holes. 5 by 5 puddle sounds a bit much unless its still pretty cold where you are now. Be prepared to tear it down again.
Water is one of the normal byproducts on any gasoline engine. This water usually just sits in the bottom of the muffler until the exhaust pipes get hot enough to evaporate it, then it passes out thru the tailpipe as invisible steam. So let it sit & run or drive it for an hour or so, so all the pipes get good & hot, & that should get rid of it.
Probably a cracked head water cooling jacket to exhaust manifold valve chamber, there shouldn't be any condensation drip after the exhaust system heats up to operating temperature.
I know it's normal, but this is the background: I rebuilt the engine and when I initially started the engine, white smoke would come out of the exhaust manifold and from the engine and the oil fill cap when I would open it. Someone told me it was normal, maybe it's dirt and other stuff left behind, and antifreeze from when the valves bent. Well, now I have been leaving in running and the smoke is less, but now I notice more water coming out from the tail pipe it forms a 5 by 5 inch puddle, the water seems purified from condensation. The car was in the garage for 5 months, maybe I need to drive it more. I installed everything correctly, as well as the gaskets and everything else. Someone who knows about this issue, please let me know. By the way, it's a 2004 Chevy Aveo 1.6L engine.
