Hey guys - take a look at this picture and help a brother out.

I noticed this white-ish substance on the lid. It looks like something in the engine either splattered up (venting expansion tank?), or something else less sinister, perhaps.

It's not bird crap - it won't wash off, which is why I am concerned it is something chemical.

Anyone else ever see this on their car?

Thanks.

 

my WAG is coolant

 

Something more sinister you say? Was it this guy striking again?

 

Oh boy...it's going to be one of THOSE threads....

 

I was taking mental bets on who would post this first. You win a cookie!

 

I assume WAG is "wild *** guess"?

That was mine too, but the coolant tank appears to be exactly the level it has been for the last 6 months.

EDIT - re-inspected the underside and there's no evidence of coolant splatter in the engine bay.

 

Hopefully a frosting-free cookie

 

When is it not???

Let's deduce.

Of all the fluids that can go into a 996 engine, which one would leave a white residue upon drying. Oil? Nope. Brake fluid? Nope. Tranny Fluid? Nope. Windshield Washer fluid? Maybe, but not ergonomically correct. Battery fluid? Uh...no. Blinker Fluid? Wrong color.

That can only leave one answer. Dried Unicorn Semen.

Or coolant...

 

from past posts......send a sample to blackstones and they can deny it is from a tinkerbell getting excited

 

OK Gonz, I know it's not unicorn spooge because it didn't glow under my blacklight.

So, let's say it is coolant - how the heck would it be mostly on the topside of the spoiler lid, without evidence of a spill underneath?

Also, would coolant stain the paint? I assume yes...whatever it is, it seems to be permanently part of the deck lid now.

 

I change my vote for some random foreign substance. Unless it happens again. Then you have ghosts.

 

Whatever it is, it's pissing me off, because I can't get it to go away. It seems it has to be something from the engine, there's no evidence of the substance anywhere else on the car. Unless it's because the deck lid is plastic the substance stains it in a way it would on the rest of the car.

Guess it's a mystery, and I know how Rennlisters love their mysteries.

 

Maybe a passerby dropped their ice cream???

 

Looking again at the picture, whatever the stuff is seems to have come from above, as it looks like it entered the air box coupling..

 

Acid ice cream, as it seems to have seeped into the paint.