Has anyone ever seen stuff like this around your truck? It's mostly concentrated under the passenger side of the engine.
I have noticed it a couple of times recently and I have never noticed this before I bought this truck.
Am I going looney?

 

Do you have a battery leaking acid?

 

I never even thought to check!
I look in the engine compartment everyday and haven't noticed anything on top of the batteries ( i even cleaned the terminals the other day) but i never have checked the bottoms.

That has to be it! thanx Dave for your help.

 

Depends on what neiborhood you live in. Could be a dope fiend sleeping under your truck at night and spilling some.. LOL , I am sorry, I could not resist...
I have never heard of it. Might well be the battery leaking off.
www.texashorse.net

 

Well,
I looked into the battery leakage therory and can't seem to find any signs of that being the culprit.
Maybe Texashorse is right ...
some dope fiend use my truck as a smack shelter! lol

Could this be from an exhaust leakage?
I park my truck in a carport and let it idle in the mornings to warm up.
I just finished sweeping the area and will continue to keep an eye on it.
If anyone has any other ideas would be greatly appriciated.
'Dope Fiend ... ya right!'

 

About the only thing I can think of to get a white powder off the truck is battery acid. For it to be on the ground it would have to be advanced enough in the battery support metal that it would be obvious.

Do you have any trees or plants around the yard that this could be off of?

 

could it be road salt?maybe?

 

Vancouver, Canada .... could it possibly be snow?

I think Rancherman84 is having that problem in NY a lot these days.

 

well maybe just a small problem,LOL.i have seen road salt get in some amazing places,getting under the hood would not surprise me any!maybe the inner fender has a hole in it letting the crap get in there.

 

Snow in Vancouver Dave? Ya right! That's a funny one. What is it anyway? never seen it in my life.
All that we get here is what the west (wet) coasters call ...
Liquid Sunshine!
Yup, rain rain rain rain rain rain!
We usually get one dump a year and it only lasts a week at the most.
I thought that it was road salt at first but I did a complete pressure wash of the undercaraige and it has popped up since that. I'm gonna keep my eye on it for the next few weeks and see if it pops up again.
Thanx guys for your help.

 

I would have to second the battery theory,,thats the only thing I know of that would turn to a white powder under the truck,,but if you done the obvious search and that produced nothing then I would have no idea to where to go from after that

 

I havn't a clue. HEY, I just found a new add in our local paper here in Wichita Falls, Texas. A guy is selling reman long blocks for 7.3 diesels for 2695. with delivery available. Sounds good to me...
www.texashorse.net

 

I'd have to say I don't have a clue for sure either. The battery is the only think I can think of. Once I saw the other end of the battery cable to the same white power thing (on an old tractor). I don't understand how or why but if it happened to you then the battery theory might be right, but occuring down by the starter or one of the other wires.

Again I don't know how that happens but it did on that tractor so it must be possible.

I'll be intrested to know how this one turns out.

 

The white powder corrosion is the result of hydrogen sulfide gas being released from your battery while charging. It condenses on the metal supports, battery posts and wires. It can travel inside the insulation on the wire to cause corrosion in places you can not see normally, till it breaks open.

Check out rotating parts.
Do you have a plastic fan or a metal one?
That black plastic fan shroud will shave off white if the fan is doing a very light rub on it.
Look at your fan clutch for traces of the powder.
Look at the vacuum pump area as well as the alternator.
Check the water pump shaft for play.
Could be a bearing or bushing is letting something rub something it is not supposed to.

If you said it was black I would look at the exhaust.
White is a little harder to come up with on a diesel, everything is black on and in them.

If it were coming from the engine compartment there should be traces of it on top of the springs or differential housing.

Maybe texashorse was right, the NCUC is laying out lines on your truck hood at night. (NCUC = Neighborhood Cocaine Users Club)