Thread: Rust in D1 floors - any tricks?

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Seems to be a common problem. I just regret I didn't act earlier, before it got so bad.
It goes in tomorrow for two days of welding and they're going to try to trace the leak, but at this stage, as I said before, the finger is being pointed at the grommet, which has wires passing through into the cabin. The windscreen and sunroof have been checked and seem OK and the door seals are normal, although they do let water in if blasted with a high pressure hose, but that would be normal I think. Passenger side also being checked.
My driver's side floor is looking white after the rust converter working on it for a week. Once the welding is done and the leak traced and blocked, I'm going to slap on another coat of rust converter over the weld, then a coat of paint over the whole floor, and then a coat of fish oil. That should hold it for a while.
BTW don't forget to unbolt the front two bolts on your seats, tip them back and see what's underneath. There was rust under mine, now treated.
I've also treated the luggage floor near the rear edge, after lifting the carpet, for minor spots to stop them spreading. And I fish oiled both sides at the rear doors, just for caution's sake.

want bad, have a look at my ute thread in members rides...
thank god someone cut it into a ute! hate to see what the alpine window may have looked like

cheers phil

I found the water came in through my doors, very hard to find but I did by taking all the panels off and hosing the bejesus out of it. The water was going in the seal where the window and door panel meet, mostly by the side mirror, then making its way down the inside of the door, where it was dripping off the power window parts onto the internal panel. It would then leak slowing into the car. I fixed some perspex over all the holes in the door using silicon as the adhesive and have not had a leak yet. I think if they put the plastic with mastic as a glue over the entire inside door side (like most cars have) there would not be a problem.

I hope I have made sense in what I typed......4 month old and not sleeping makes for one rambling dude.......

I can send pics in needed, will just have to get out and take them....

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Better get that underlay out and let it dry. Got any rust converter?
Left mine at the body shop this morning. Should know more when I pick it up tomorrow arvo.

Will be doing that this afternoon after work. Had a quick look at the passenger side and it doesn't look to bad but the drivers side is a mess mainly along the right hand side from the accelerator peddle back to the seat, though under the seat looks ok. The underlay is absolutely soaked.

Thanks guys for bringing my attention to the floors... pulled up the carpet on driver and passenger side - underlay on both sides completely soaked too...

I was just wondering reading all your helpfull posts, my doors leak a lot of water from the bottom when opened after heavy rain - at this stage I am assuming that is how the water gets on the floor, would anyone have 2 cents to add to this theory? (and how to fix it of course)

Cheers!

Well, all this talk about rust, pulled carpets up and guess what I found? Small bits of rust and very wet underlay . Now the disco is driving around naked on the inside while I treat the rust and find the leak........
Thanks to all for suggestions on leaks, will let you all know where mine is.
Cheers
Goldey

I found the water came in through my doors, very hard to find but I did by taking all the panels off and hosing the bejesus out of it. The water was going in the seal where the window and door panel meet, mostly by the side mirror, then making its way down the inside of the door, where it was dripping off the power window parts onto the internal panel. It would then leak slowing into the car. I fixed some perspex over all the holes in the door using silicon as the adhesive and have not had a leak yet. I think if they put the plastic with mastic as a glue over the entire inside door side (like most cars have) there would not be a problem.

I hope I have made sense in what I typed......4 month old and not sleeping makes for one rambling dude.......

I can send pics in needed, will just have to get out and take them....

Thanks for that - that's something I hadn't considered. When I get it back I'll pull the inside skins off both doors and make sure the plastic is properly sealing it. The plastic skin was disturbed when the electric window mechanism was replaced a few months ago. Maybe its been leaking since then. If the vehicle was parked under cover it would probably dry out, but ours is living outside at the moment, so if it rains it would get wet.

Judging from other posts above, this problem seems to be more widespread than I realised. My underlay was soaked on both sides. I pulled it out of the driver's side and its taken a week of hanging up to dry. No wonder it had rusted.

This may be a common problem, not an isolated incident.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Thanks for that - that's something I hadn't considered. When I get it back I'll pull the inside skins off both doors and make sure the plastic is properly sealing it. The plastic skin was disturbed when the electric window mechanism was replaced a few months ago. Maybe its been leaking since then. If the vehicle was parked under cover it would probably dry out, but ours is living outside at the moment, so if it rains it would get wet.

Judging from other posts above, this problem seems to be more widespread than I realised. My underlay was soaked on both sides. I pulled it out of the driver's side and its taken a week of hanging up to dry. No wonder it had rusted.

This may be a common problem, not an isolated incident.

DM - my disco lives in the garage and even though we were out driving in the rain the other day I was surprised by the amount of water held in that underlay. It would take ages for that to dry out on it's own, whether you are under cover or not.

Perhaps we need a D1 rusting floor support group , it certainly is a common problem.

My Disco wasn't equipped with front mudflaps. Instead of them, the 3 holes to attach them were blocked with 3 transparent plastic buttons, that didn´t seal the water incoming. As these buttons were not tight, in the production line they were fixed with duct tape from inside.
This tape acts as a moisture distributor.
I was real lucky as I decided to mount the front mudflaps, because I early found this issue from moisty carpets and isolators...

Regards