Thread: White dust coming out of my vents?

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Originally Posted by Mike52

Is it anything like this?

Mike

i would of like.. to do that to my sister a time or two

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

i would of like.. to do that to my sister a time or two

Yeah Pat, I copied that link and sent it to my sister with the message, "How come we didn't have hair dryers when we were kids??

Originally Posted by rspears

Yeah Pat, I copied that link and sent it to my sister with the message, "How come we didn't have hair dryers when we were kids??

I think you answered your own question.

I built the car. It has a Hot Rod Air system in it. I don't see any evidence of a leak anywhere. Would it be inside the evaporator? If so, that's going to be a pain to get to.

Could it possibly be a leak in the AC system. I know I have a leak there because it will only blow cold for a couple weeks at a time. I didn't know if leaking freon could cause a white dust.

Originally Posted by bulldogcountry1

I built the car. It has a Hot Rod Air system in it. I don't see any evidence of a leak anywhere. Would it be inside the evaporator? If so, that's going to be a pain to get to.

Could it possibly be a leak in the AC system. I know I have a leak there because it will only blow cold for a couple weeks at a time. I didn't know if leaking freon could cause a white dust.

Originally Posted by rspears

I think Barb's right here, and you probably have a very small heater core leak, not enough to drip but getting things wet inside the duct. When it dries the chemicals in the anti-freeze and maybe mineral in the water are left behind, and dry to a dusty deposit.

The AC is just freon gas with an initial charge of compressor oil, and freon doesn't leave any type of residue other than frost from the air if discharged quickly. I stand by my previous answer - I think you've got a tiny, pinhole heater core leak. Call Hot Rod Air and ask their tech guys - I bet it won't be the first time they've been asked.

I finally got around to taking out my evaporator core. Surely enough, the evaporator casing has a bunch of the with powder in it. I didn't see an obvious place where there would be a leak, though. When it was first suggested in the post 6 months or so, I put som stop leak in it, but it still blows the flakes out every time I turn the air on.

Is there a way to fix it with solder? What's a good way to find the leak? Water and pressure?

Hot Rod Air doesn't even seem to be in business anymore, as their site doesn't even come up, so I don't even know how I would get a replacement.

Could the white powder be foam packing from when it was shipped??? If you have a freon leak you should have Oil there also.Dry powder has to be somthing that was put in there .blow it off and be sure its clean before putting it back together.

More specifically, it's like fine dandruff more than a powder. It was spread evenly inside the box on the bottoms and sides and wasn't concentrated in any one area. There's a metal plate riveted to the bottom of the box, and the core sits on that, with a foam pad in-between. That plate looks to be galvanized and could possibly be the source of the white material because there is some indication of deterioration. I'm just not sure.

All the padding inside is gray. If that was the source, the material wouldn't be white. I'm pretty baffled.

While it didn't come from there, why not give Vintage Air a call. They seem to have their stuff together and have survived the economy downturn.

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I'd bet a dollar to a dime you have a very small pinhole coolant leak in your heater core putting out a spray that's drying to a powder. About the only way that I know to find the leak is to take the heater core out, plug one side (like a piece of heater hose clamped with a dowel rod clamped in the hose end), submerge it and put some very low air pressure on the other side, looking for bubbles. Again, if mine I'd probably plug one side, put a longer hose on the other side clamped tight and rig up a sports ball hand pump w/ needle into the longer hose. They only put out a few psig, so you'd have to work hard to pop the core. You'll probably find a leak in the finned area, which will make repair difficult to impossible. Galvanizing is just a zinc coating, and while it may oxidize in a wet environment it's not going to give you the dandruff flakes you've described. Like Dave says, the guys at VA know AC systems and are friendly.

If you have an aquarium air pump, you can route an air hose into one sideusing a rubber air tubing that may stretch over the in port or a rubber stopper with a hole drilled in it the size of stiff plastic air tubing, and stopper the other side with a rubber plug, stick it in a bucket of water and plug in the air pump. Should immediately id any leaks.

I rigged it up to a water hose and held pressure on it for 30 minutes or so. I didn't see any sign of a leak. So I thought maybe the Stop Leak sealed it, and the remaining powder was just left over from before. I cleaned everything up, replaced the plate with a piece of aluminum, and put the evaporator back together. I came back the next day, and probably a cup of water came out of the evaporator drain. I open everything back up, and there was a good bit of wetness inside the box.

So, I filled the core back up with water and just sat it on the shop floor overnight to see if it's going to leak. That's where I stand now.

Seems like, if the leak was that small the Stop Leak would have taken care of it. The dust definitely seemed to lessen after I first used it.