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View Full Version : Ok, I love my 3g and all but....RUST



danronian
09-14-2003, 06:41 PM
Last week someone on the board finally clued me in that to clean out the drains for the moonroof you have to pull out the plastic panels in the trunk and clean out the tubes. I did this today and found that the stupid water that couldn't get out the tubes, and the water getting around the tail light gaskets was rusting my car away. Behind the one tail light where the back panel and 1/4 panel meet is a spot where there are rust holes straight through the car. So now I have to chip away all of that sealer, wire brush, sand, apply rust stopper, paint, and then silicone shut the seam. For the outside I just lathered it with some gasket maker to shut the holes, but for now thats all I did since if I do anymore I will ruin the pain on the 1/4 worse then it is already. Does anyone else have some stories about rust in weird spots on their 3gs, or spots that people don't realize are rusted?

MrBen
09-14-2003, 07:21 PM
For me, it was the wheel well lips (under the rubber sheath), behind the trunklid lights, the trunklid latch on top of the bumper, the bumper screws/bolts that were rusting off, various bolts that have been taken off and put back on over the years etc.

danronian
09-14-2003, 07:52 PM
Yeah my wheel well lips are about 50% rusted away. I am holding them together with rubber sealer until I feel like fixing all of the body next summer. I also recently used a big pile of roofing cement (tar) to coat the one wheel well entirely, I''ll have to do the other one soon. I also have a hole in the driver side wheelwell toward the driver, I should take some panels off to figure out why it is rusting there also. Its not even at the bottom of the car, it is like 5 inches up from the bottom of the wheelwell, weird.

MrBen
09-14-2003, 08:03 PM
Rust starts in the weirdest spots. Usually... it is because either it is a seam in the body or something dinged the body and chipped away paint and started rust. That's what sparked my wheel well rust on my driver's side. As a reference, it took me two weeks of working in the mornings and a lttle bit at night to grind out the rust and do body work on the wheel wells, trunklid, and various other spots. But now I am rust free. Or so I think.

sanjay
09-15-2003, 06:27 AM
thanks Danronian
I've had the same problem,
Can you post a "how-to" (in this thread) of how you pulled out the two rear drains ? thanks

danronian
09-15-2003, 08:58 AM
First you remove the platic panels in the trunk, start with the one where the trunk closes and then take off the side panels. There is 4 screws in the back panel and then just pull it and the clip will pop off. Then for the side panels there is 2 or three screws, metal clips at the tops of the panels right below the trunk lid, lots of plastic clips, and the panels are clipped onto the floor. Just make sure all of the screws are out of them and then pull. If any of the plastic clips look like they are going to break when you are pulling just stop and pry it out by the head with some needle noses behind it, pull it with your hand, our pry it with a screwdriver. The only almost problem I had was that I almost had to take out my seat but instead wedged my screwdriver under the side sections of the back of the seat. There might be some variations since yours is a different model but nothing should be drastically different. Then once all of the plastic stuff is out of the car there is two tubes, one running to each side of the car just behind the wheelwell. Pull the tubes out of the rubber holders they are in and then pull the ends off of them. Then just stick a wire up the tube to get the stuff out of it and clean out the plug. Then stick it back on and use some sealer to make it stay on if you want. Then just put it back where it was and clean up any water in the trunk so it doesnt rust out on you. Then while all of those panels are off see if there is any inside rust and if there is sand it down and paint/seal wherever it was leaking. Good Luck. I havent put the panels back in my car but the metal clips look like they will be a pain, but with interior panels, I'm used to it. I forgot to mention you will both need to work through the back seat folded down and through the trunk.

MrBen
09-15-2003, 09:14 AM
That was another spot for rust, was behind those panels and below the carpeting. I just sprayed that Rust Mort on it (turns rust into black primer).

danronian
09-15-2003, 06:54 PM
Okay... I took apart my whole trunk to clean out the moonroof plugs and let it like that for today. I rained like hell and no leaks, YAY!

Non related to the plugs, there is this white vent looking thing mounted to the side of the car behind the rear bumper in the trunk on the drivers side. I went through some puddles today, no real big ones except one that I didnt see until I almost was stopped by it, and the trunk is soaked with water. It appears to me it all came in through that rubber flapper on the plastic vent thing. Has anyone removed this thing, b/c thats what I am thinking of doing b/c it lets a whole lot of water splash into the trunk during rain. Does anyone know the purpose of this thing? If no-one knows what I am talking about just say so and I'll take a pic.

MrBen
09-15-2003, 07:30 PM
I know what you're talking about, but take a picture anyway.

danronian
09-15-2003, 07:36 PM
I'll take one tommorrow when it's light out. The one good thing about my discovery of this thing was that it prompted me to fill the spare with some air which it lost over the summer and got me to clean out the dirt in the trunk which had clogged water plug which was below the spare, creating a little pond out of the spare indentation.

al010101
09-17-2003, 04:09 PM
mine has no rust, thanks arizona :) sorry, i just got my back today, it was stolen, so i'm happy.

danronian
09-17-2003, 07:04 PM
It would be great to have no rust, but then again what would I do to my car if I wasnt fixing rust all the time? I would actually have nothing to do!

MrBen
09-17-2003, 07:25 PM
Hey I checked out the weird vent thing, and mine has a flimsy door on it that keep stuff outside, outside. I have no idea what it is for.

danronian
09-17-2003, 07:50 PM
Yeah mine has the door also but the thing is when I hit puddles water poors in the stupid flap and drains down into the spare tire indentation. In turn it ruined that cardboard panel and makes the whole trunk smell like mold that was growing on the panel. But I replaced that with wood now so it'll be a while until it reeks of mold again. But it also ruined the carpet and it is stained anyhow, so I am gonna have to try to find one of those at the junkyard next time I go. I am almost afraid to block that vent off though, it must be there for some reason b/c why else would Honda bother to put it there? I looked in all three manuals I have and have found nothing about it at all.

danronian
09-17-2003, 08:26 PM
Here is a link to the picture of the rust I cleaned up, used rust converter on, top coated, and then sealed up. Also a pic of the vent.

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=327304&page=12

MrBen
09-17-2003, 08:39 PM
Yeah I was tempted to tape mine off because I haev water that gets in there also. It's not as bad as yours though. On another topic, my trunk bottom is made out of corrugated plastic instead of cardboard. Something I could consider using!