rust in center channel

Qmodo · 01-05-2006, 06:58 PM

Hi guys.
I had to pull out my armrest/junk collector box and had a peak into the center channel thanks to the PO with a can opener.
I was surprised to see it covered in water and rusty all over in there.
Of course having had this car for over 8 years I'm really not surprised about anything...I just gotta keep in mind the smile I have on my face most summer long terrorizing the neighborhood as I slide around the corners and tear up the road.
Back to my concerns.....Where does water get in there from? Can I seal it off? How do you clean in there anyhow???
I will check for previous related posts but if you have anything to share, I will appreciate it.
Thanks

Martin

computers4kids · 01-05-2006, 09:59 PM

I will leave it to some of the veterans here on this forum to help you with how the water gets in there and what to do about it. Inside the tunnel does not sound like fun.

What I did notice from the pictures was the color of your floor board--silver. The PO could have just painted the floor with silver paint, or it could be a sign of a much bigger problem. There is a product called Por-15 which is an awesome product for treating and sealing rust. Its a bit expensive but everyone swears by it. It comes in different colors...the "silver" is specially formulated with extra pieces of material to treat badly rusted metal. If the PO treated your floorboards with it, rust should have been halted. However, treating inside the tunnel is a whole nother matter. If I were you, I would pull your seats and all the carpet--if that is silver paint on your floor board and not Por-15 you may have a bigger problem lurking.

swl · 01-06-2006, 05:03 AM

There is always a little surface rust but that looks pretty chunky. In our climate condensation from heat/cool cycles is the likely culprit. You may have an underside leak but you would probably be aware of that in the visible part of the floor. Looks like the soundproofing has been removed from your floor - that's a very good thing in terms of fighting rust. How about the bottom side - is there still a coating down there? If so look for cracks in it and go after it with screwdriver to see what is under there.

As computers4kids said POR-15 is good stuff. It can be applied over rust if need be (does POR stand for paint over rust?). To do it right though you really should strip everything out of the tunnel and that would be a mega project. Once everything is out you could probable apply POR with something like a toilet snake with puff ball on the end. Bloody messy but it would seal up the rust for a while. Problem is that it will only be effective where metal is exposed. Any factory paint still left in there would eventually fail start the rust again.

If your tunnel is like that I'd be really concerned about the inside of your longs - the tunnel won't kill the car but internal long rust will. Have you pulled up your side carpets lately?

Headrage · 01-07-2006, 01:55 PM

Have you checked your back window seal?

Qmodo · 01-10-2006, 05:35 PM

Thanks for the suggestions - I will look at all that over the next couple of months. I had the outer longs and some floor and part of the firewall replaced 5 years ago and now that I think about it...I don't think I looked into the center channel myself at that time. I probably should have done that.

Martin

Jared at Pelican Parts · 01-12-2006, 05:21 PM

check the drainage tubes under the car near the master cylinder for clogging, cleaning that rust out will be a *****.

Maybe a diluted mixture of POR with water in a sprayer?