What is this!?!

[Titleistman18]

Can someone tell me why I have this puddle under my truck when I shut it off after driving 5 miles from work? It seems to be under the battery’s from below the seat. It’s quite the dripping coming out. Sorry if this is a dumb question but it seems very odd. It’s 35* outside btw. Thanks

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[Montauk]

Did you drink the whole can of Mountain Dew on the 5-mile drive to work? That may have something to do with it.

 

[Scott Asheville]

What does it smell like? No smell (water) or what?

 

[Jah.]

Well , if you have defrost on the ac is still working to take moisture out of passenger compartment . still seems like a lot . plus , it usually would be in front of passenger seat area .

 

[Ozarkbeard]

First thing you should do is pop the hood and check the two coolant reservoirs on the passenger side of the engine compartment.

 

[surfstar]

Probably just condensation.
Lick it.
If it tastes better than your MtnDew - it could be condensation, antifreeze, oil, or even piss. Sorry, guess that doesn't help.

 

[GPSMan]

Frost somewhere on the truck melted.

I usually say there's no stupid questions but I'm considering changing my mind.

 

[cyberdog]

Any rain lately, where the bed may have had some water in, which drained turning into the driveway? - There's quite a few areas that can hold water under the bed and in the rear fenders, you'd be surprised.

Get some paper towel or tissue paper, blot it up, and see what color it is. There were some issues with leaking heat exchangers early in production. The seals and setup have been reworked a couple of times. If it's yellow/coolant color, with a sweet smell, that might be it, although they usually don't leak puddles, so unlikely. - Those tend to develope a slow annoying drip, from what I've been told.

That said, is the left side of the picture looking yellow/green to anybody else? - It might be the same green on the dry portion farther over, but it sort of looks that color on my screen.

 

[MyFirstFordEver]

Yesterday, I had the same exact puddle first thing in the morning here in Florida after a night with much condensation on the truck (mid 40 temperature).
After checking the fluids and upon a "crawl under the truck" inspection, I found it to be water dripping from the large fiber undershield at the back end. I can only speculate that it drained into the undershield from the windshield cowl drains. Note- The truck was parked in a slight front down (15-20 degree) position.
This morning there was very light condensation and parked the same way with no puddle...
A thought- maybe the OP's condensation froze, thawed in the undershield from the heating of driving, and then drained out when stopped...
Another thing I am going to keep an eye on is whether this happens when using the windshield washer (which would confirm a draining down from the cowl.)

And, I also like cyberdog's theory. With the amount of condensation in the bed, the water could have drained from the drain holes into the undershield and went through the same freeze thaw for the OP and just drained out on mine...

 

[LoveMyTaters]

Heat exchanger ?

 

[Z06]

I mean. It’s fuel, coolant, or water. I say lick it and report back.

 

[OrCoaster]

I mean. It’s fuel, coolant, or water. I say lick it and report back.

Any of these beats the taste of that Mt Dew.

 

[RichardCranium]

As @Jah. said, ac runs in deforest to remove moisture. Sometimes puddles act weird when expanding (think Ian Malcom chaos theory explanation in Jurassic park, the drop doesn’t go the same way twice) at 35 degrees outside, it isn’t likely that the under side of the truck froze.
Did the puddle happen again?
I would still recommend looking under the truck and feeling around the areas that you think the drip came from. Might help to determine where it came from more accurately.

 

[Montauk]

As @Jah. said, ac runs in deforest to remove moisture. Sometimes puddles act weird when expanding (think Ian Malcom …)

Thumbs up for the reference to tiny variations such as the orientation of stones in the blacktop matrix, the presence of road salt distending the intra-stone asphalt, imperfections in the grade of the parking space…

All of which

1. Never repeat
And
2. Vastly affect the outcome of the shape of the puddle.

Ps, it kinda actually does look like a drip puddle either from condensate or ice/frost melt. Large and wide. If it were gas he’d smell it. Tranny fluid?, oil, or coolant we’d see the color. Nothing inside that battery pack would look like that in the absence of a pyrotechnic display.

 

[RichardCranium]

Thumbs up for the reference to tiny variations such as the orientation of stones in the blacktop matrix, the presence of road salt distending the intra-stone asphalt, imperfections in the grade of the parking space…

All of which

1. Never repeat
And
2. Vastly affect the outcome of the shape of the puddle.

Ps, it kinda actually does look like a drip puddle either from condensate or ice/frost melt. Large and wide. If it were gas he’d smell it. Tranny fluid?, oil, or coolant we’d see the color. Nothing inside that battery pack would look like that in the absence of a pyrotechnic display.

I’ve had puddles (mostly from the air conditioning) that have looked larger and/or out of place. It is amazing what a little more humidity than normal can do.

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