Thread: Rust protection - is it needed?

Originally Posted by alittlebitconcerned

I have an 08 Puma that has never had rust protection. I have what appears to be surface rust under the paint on the rear cross member and have rusty water dump into the front passenger footwell when it rains.

Is there nothing that can be done to stop it or is it already too late for my car?

No not too late. ALL defenders parked outside will have a rusty crossmember after about 5 years. But this is easy to fix with a bit of sanding, a primer and a coat of satin black.

The rusry water in the footwell is also a special PUMA feature. There are two parts to the fix.

a) The first thing is to stop or reduce the water leaking in. The bulkhead has lip at the top and is sealed to the windscreeen with a foam seal. IT's pretty much difficult for the water to leak in along the center as there is a locating flange behind the seal on the bulkhead, so most water leaks come in along the left and right side. Most likely is the Windscreen fake hinges, there is a really crappy gasket used to stop water getting in, and after a bit of flexing this leaks. It's difficult to remove without taking some paint off. But sealing this fake hinge is a good start, also seal under the bolt heads. The next likely place is foam seal itself , a bead of black silicon will seal this up pretty well. Finally you can also get water leaking in through the kink in the door seal. That will end up on the floor and in the lip under the dashboard causing the rusty water. A new genuine seal will help.

b) Once you have reduced the water getting in then you can look at rust proofing. I used a can of INOX-3 or Lanolin spray, and liberally coated the floor surfaces under the mats, and up under the dashboard. You can get some reasonable access by removing the fuse panels etc. The Inox will soak into every seam and is really quite good at stopping rust. I also sprayed into the bulk head through the various holes - such as the rubber covers for the LHD windscreen wipers, and by removing one hinge bolt at a time you can get most of the bulkhead.

After all of the above my MY09 no longer leaked bright red rusty water onto it's mats.

A related aside...

My Puma doesn't leak water during rain into the footwells (LR fixed this under warranty) but i did do a muddy water crossing a few weeks ago (maybe 600-700mm deep) and got a good sudden gush of water into the passenger footwell.

Any idea where this would have breached and got in?

Like I said, it does NOT leak during rain. But where there's water, theres potentially rust...

Originally Posted by EastFreo

Can anyone recommend who to use professionally in Perth?

I've used these guys..
http://www.google.com.au/url'sa=t&rc...69837884,d.c2E


And can recommend them highly!

Originally Posted by Samblers

A related aside...

My Puma doesn't leak water during rain into the footwells (LR fixed this under warranty) but i did do a muddy water crossing a few weeks ago (maybe 600-700mm deep) and got a good sudden gush of water into the passenger footwell.

Any idea where this would have breached and got in?

Like I said, it does NOT leak during rain. But where there's water, theres potentially rust...

Most likely is the heater box, it's a plastic thing that does not seal particularly well against the bulkhead. Under warranty they can replace and by chance you might get a better one.

I spray my landies with lanotec or fish oil regularly.

Invest in an air compressor, a degreasing gun and a 4L tin of fish oil or lanotec.

Originally Posted by BilboBoggles

Most likely is the heater box, it's a plastic thing that does not seal particularly well against the bulkhead. Under warranty they can replace and by chance you might get a better one.

Is this an easily accessible thingo and can it be sealed up with sikaflex or something? I'm out of warranty

I found tectyl 506 to be the best, it's about $16 a spray can from supercheap and 2 cans should easily do a landrover. It leaves a thick wax layer which dries hard and resists dirt and sand and hoses off clean. I tried fish oil and some other wax sprays bot most attracted dirt which wouldn't hose off easily. Sand the lighty rusted areas, paint with rust converter to neutralise, paint with chassis black paint;POR or black enamel paint then spray Tectyl 506 on top. We did this to my dad's chassis on his 98 defender 130 a year ago and it's still looks like a new. It was beginning to get surface rust all over the chassis and was looking pretty average . Just be sure to wear goggles, gloves and a filtered mask as the vapour from spraying was pretty strong and it irritates the eyes, aswell as leaving your hands waxy.

Tecktyl 506 also comes in a 4l drum, Blackwood is one distributor