Hey all- something is getting my engine, driver's side fender & hood filthy. Also there are little flecks of black hitting my battery and air filter/ What do you think is causing this?
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How's your oil consumption? That almost looks like the ol' front oil main leak. Your belts will sling stuff everywhere. Clean the front end up real good, and shine a light up behind the crank pulley dust cover. If the main is leaking, you'll see it start there while it's running. Easy enough to fix.

If nothing is obvious, find yourself some clean cardboard to place under the engine when you park; inspect for drops/puddle after gravity has done its work.

front crank seal.

Power steering fluid is (or should be) cherry red in color

Here is a pic of the front of my 22RE 2500 miles after a complete rebuild:



I haven't determined the exact cause, but the seal was brand new and shop installed during the block rebuild.

great pic, man-- we seem to have the same gunky problem! My engine is brand-new too. The black stuff on my truck is almost sooty in consistency-- almost like there are little metal flecks in black gunk! Is it possible the mess is caused by a bearing/bushing coming apart in the power steering pump where it attaches to the belt pulley? There has just started to be a new noise when I start the engine and I wonder if that noise is the PSP belt pulley getting up to speed?

I might also have a front main leak, too! I had to redo my (brand new) timing chain a couple weeks back and I may not have put everything back together right! I thought a new engine would SIMPLIFY my problems?! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" />

I had a similar problem with oil residue on the front passenger side of the engine and a streak on the underside of the hood. It turned out to be an oil leak between the head and the timing cover. If I carefully cleaned the timing cover/head area(up under the front of the head at the top of the timing cover) it would stop the oil spray until enough oil leaked out again and the oil started blowing around like in your pics. Later a headgasket replacement was done and the problem went away.

It might be worth looking at this as a possible source for the leak.

I've had both the the headgasket and the front main oil leak.(Preowner <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />) I'd say clean it and watch.

Late-breaking news. Last night, the PSP pulley started making a ton of noise that increased and decreased volume with increased and decreased engine RPM. I also noticed my PS reservoir was just about empty, after I topped it off less than 1 month ago. Until I get the thing replaced, would it be okay for me to remove the PS belt?

Yea go ahead and remove the belt. Of course, you wont have power steering. Will require a lot more steering effort when moving slow.

Its common for the crank pulley to get a groove worn into it from the seal and then a new seal won't fix a leak. A "speedy sleeve" will fix the groove on the pulley. Its just a thin steel sleeve that you slip on that provides a new seal surface. Available at NAPA, etc.