I call this " engineered to rust " hot to slow / stop ;)

[JohnTF]

Somebody may have posted this , but I have not seen it .
Heard this from someone local , maybe the member I bought manual swap from .

I did take pictures , but not getting phone to load on laptop ;(
One of the typical rusting spots on Jettas , just in front of front door . rear of front fenders .
Very easy , remove tire/wheel , then 4 torx screws - 3 near the bottom and 4th up about 18" above the 1st 3 , then pull the plastic fender liner in towards the axial and put the end behind the tie-rod to hold out of the way why you are cleaning .

I am in Minnesota , but this car came from California about 1 1/2 yrs. ago , so no rust yet .
Driver's side was backed up the inner fender about 6-8 inches , passengers side was packed up about 16" use flat screwdriver to dig out and then use hose to rinse the rest out .

Last month I cleaned out the area just in front of windshield the plastic vent area , also the ECM is on the passenger side under plastic , and then where the unibody frame touches the firewall .

I'm sure that there are other places to look at , maybe on wagons rear window rubber to rear hatch , lift rubber window gasket clean & seal with silly-cone --- have not looked at mine yet , but have seen many other wagons rust in that area ?

 

[STDOUBT]

Well, it is by design, and I agree...jeeze, VW.
But anyway, it's like anywhere else water can hang. It's not so much the water, it's what's in the water; salt, etc.
When my '03 was 15 years old was the first time I heard about those drain-wells, and when I opened it up, it happened to be dry and looked like a nice loamy potting soil. About 3 cups on each side. Washed it out, and all the paint underneath looked fine.
Actually used some insulating polish on the paint in there, and so far so good.
Definitely a weak point if you live where "they" salt the roads.

Another spot I think about is under the rubber weather seal along the bottoms of the doors. Would be nice to be able to remove them w/o destroying the catches, so I could get that area and those holes clean.
All said, 18 years with no rust (that I can see) is pretty good.
My advice is just keep her clean. Run in snow/ice? Don't let it thaw w/o rinsing well!
Good Luck!

 

[tgray]

Spray or brush "fluid film" on the problem areas. It doesn't dry out and creeps into any rust. It is fairly water resistant and a real pain if you ever want to clean and paint it but it does stop the rust. I found this stuff also makes a good lubricant for the door hinges. It is lanolin based.

 

[P2B]

Somebody may have posted this , but I have not seen it .

There have been a number of posts over the years, the one that sticks in my mind was a pic posted by a member who actually found weeds growing in there.

I clean that area twice a year when switching to and from winter tires.

 

[tgray]

And in some of my frustration with it I just leave the bottom screw out so I can just pull the plastic back and clean it out more often easier.

 

[Mongler98]

you should look up birdman's rebuild
he (and many others) have found rust TRAPPED ON THE METAL UNDER THE EPOXY COAT from the factory.
these cars are just garbage rust piles waiting to infuriate anyone who has one

 

[Zak99b5]

you should look up birdman's rebuild
he (and many others) have found rust TRAPPED ON THE METAL UNDER THE EPOXY COAT from the factory.
these cars are just garbage rust piles waiting to infuriate anyone who has one

MkIV rust issues are way less than MkIII. I think those started rusting on the assembly line.

 

[csstevej]

I’ve cut out a V notch in the bottom of the fender liner so nothing gets trapped there, easy to flush out if needed…usually a good rain storm takes care of that.

 

[DivineChaos]

I’ve cut out a V notch in the bottom of the fender liner so nothing gets trapped there, easy to flush out if needed…usually a good rain storm thanks care of that.

Sounds like a good idea. A pic would be nice.

 

[Abacus]

Spray or brush "fluid film" on the problem areas. It doesn't dry out and creeps into any rust. It is fairly water resistant and a real pain if you ever want to clean and paint it but it does stop the rust. I found this stuff also makes a good lubricant for the door hinges. It is lanolin based.

I second the Fluid Film, it was the only thing keeping my B4's from rusting apart and did a great job. Some of the rust in progress was halted where it was. I am originally from Maine, which is a high rust state due to the salt on the roads in winter and in the air being so close to the ocean. It will need to be reapplied every year or so but it's worth the cost.

My wife's first Sorentowas not treated and rusted out in 10 years, right through the frame and brake lines. Her next Sorento had the engine let go 7 years later and had absolutely no rust anywhere due to being treated annually with Fluid Film. We moved to Arizona so now don't have the problem with rust anymore or we'd keep using it.

 

[tgray]

The other thing is at the age of these cars now the underside body plugs are rotting out and falling out. So then you get water running inside of the rocker panels as well as by the fenders. One car I just sealed all the body holes up with a urethane based caulk - OSI Quad found in Menards and Home Depot works the best and it comes in a Black to match the rubber. Once salt gets into steel it drills tiny holes through it and very difficult to deal with other than removing the steel or stopping with something like fluid film.

 

[csstevej]

Sounds like a good idea. A pic would be nice.

Heres the pic.


URL="https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?media/albums/v-notch-in-fender-liner.13097/"]

[/URL]

 

[DivineChaos]

Heres the pic.

I could do that same type of thing in my mk6 jsw.

 

[csstevej]

It works well.

 

[burn_your_money]

The other thing is at the age of these cars now the underside body plugs are rotting out and falling out. So then you get water running inside of the rocker panels as well as by the fenders. One car I just sealed all the body holes up with a urethane based caulk - OSI Quad found in Menards and Home Depot works the best and it comes in a Black to match the rubber. Once salt gets into steel it drills tiny holes through it and very difficult to deal with other than removing the steel or stopping with something like fluid film.

I did similar on my Jetta but I found the missing plugs and then used spray can rubberized undercoating to seal them in place, similar to how the factory did it. I should get some fluid film and load all those cavities up.

 

[rwthomas1]

Fluid Film works okay but washes away too easily. I used to use it until I found https://nhoilundercoating.com Not affiliated in any way just a happy customer. Its the only thing that stays put on the frame of a plow truck through a New England winter. Stops the rust completely, I find it takes two applications initially, about 6 months apart, and then yearly after that. I purchased their pro grade application gun kit, worth every penny if you have multiple vehicles to do. I spray the stuff behind the fender liners before winter every year. The little bit of surface rust that was already there has never gotten worse. I douse all my vehicles with the stuff.

RT

 

[tgray]

Fluid film is expensive in the spray can but way cheaper by the gallon. I sometimes load an old paint spray gun up and turn the fan off and it will spray it about 4-5 feet. They say not to thin it out with anything but you can warm it up hot and it gets pretty thin.

 

[tgray]

This video is why I quit using regular rubberized undercoating. The other link listed above https://nhoilundercoating.com looks like it could be better lasting. I may try that.