Today I noticed a strange vibrating sound coming from the rear of the car. It was the exhuast pipe vibrating quite roughly. I also noticed that there was gas coming out of the exhuast, dripping. Has anyone else had this problem? Is this normal??

 

Can't say I ever experienced that. Unburned fuel should not be leaking out of the exhaust. I'd get it checked out. Perhaps that's one of the reasons your fuel economy hasn't been very good: there might be a small fuel leak somewhere in your system.

 

In all likelyhood the vibration you experienced was due to the vehicle warm-up. It is normal for the vehicle to rmp its way to 1500 for the first few minutes of operation especially in cold mornings. However the rattling is not normal.
It may very well be that something is making the rattle such as a loose heatshield or even a rock lodged in any of the heatshields under the vehicle. A quick inspection (typically free) by the dealership should fix that.

In regards to the fluid dripping from the exhaust: This is a very common occurrence-particularly during vehicle startup as well. What we often see is water dripping - not gas. The air that gets used in the combustion process has a certain amount of moisture and gets expelled in this way.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

I Concur Doctor.

 

I would understand if these things happen when the car is warming up, however, this is after the car is completely warmed up. I ran some errands yesterday, I noticed this when I got home.

 

and you touched the fluid and smelled it, and it was gas? water is normal. gas isn't.

 

Agreed, Doctor. Doctor? Doctor. Doctor? Doctor. Doctor? Doctor! Doctor? Doctor. (I *love* that scene from "Spies Like Us")

 

In a perfect world, you'd get nothing but water and carbon dioxide out the tailpipe:
2C8H18 + 25O2 > 16CO2 + 18H2O (octane reaction only... there are other hydrocarbons in gasoline that would follow the same pattern, dunno how the detergents and other additives react)