ECM SALTS?

[pete]

I am wondering what this is and how it got there. They are some sort of salt deposits on my 94 previa ecm. There are no holes in the floor so its not from salty roads. the last picture is the floorboard where the most corroded end of the ecm rested:


284285286287288

[timsrv]

Could have been salt packets from a drive through restaurant. Those things will fall into crevices, then attract moisture and melt when they get wet.

[pete]

hadn't thought about that. Would it cause the salt to grow and spread to inside the computer like showing in the pics?

[Dogfish]

I would suspect salt air.

Not running the beach, but maybe spent a few seasons at a beach house or near the beach... possibly in a storm. Colder temps could cause some condensation inside the van.

You could be looking at areas that didn't get cleaned too well.

-Jim

[timsrv]

Corrosion is contagious. It spreads and grows...........sort of like one bad apple spoiling the whole barrel. Once it's started, it will continue even if you remove the initial cause of it. My vote is on salt packet(s). Back when I was a toolmaker/machinist, I used a small drawer on my toolbox for silverware, napkins, salt packets, etc. When I changed careers I brought that toolbox home and it sat in my garage untouched for about 2 or 3 years. One day I opened that drawer for some reason and the inside of it looked similar to your ECU (and it had spread well beyond the location of the salt packets). That tool box was never exposed to the elements, but the condensation inside my garage was attracted to the salt crystals..........and that was enough to really mess up my tool box. IMHO, A van interior with carpet right there would be an even better breeding ground for that sort of reaction.

As an RV tech, I see other examples of this very thing. Particularly the metal surfaces under a stove top. Most people salt their food when the cook, and some of it falls down through the burner holes. When the RV gets stored for the winter the humidity goes right for the salt and the result is rusted/corroded surfaces there. Tim