2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Serious rust issue... anyone else?

[Vaman]

My truck has been very rust free (including the undercarriage) and kept in the garage most of its life. The other day I noticed something along the bottom of my driver's side door. Closer inspection revealed serious rust... as in touch it with your finger and chunks fall off. Looks like the weather stripping is really good at catching moisture, salt, etc and holding it against the bottom inside part of the door... everywhere else in the general area looks great (absolutely no rust). Looks like just a very bad design. The rust is pretty bad on the drivers side and just starting on the passenger side. Anyone else witnessed this? Pretty disappointing to find...

 

[DKupfrian]

I see the same signs on my 2000. A friend is a body mech and warned me about this when I bough the truck. He said the inside of the door is not sealed or painted. When water get into the door, it sits in the bottom and rusts. He suggested I spray WD40 in the drain holes regularly to prevent it. I did it once a year and it wasn't enough. 4 year old truck is starting to rust from the inside out. :{

 

[Shelton]

This seems to be a fairly common problem. Both my 96 and 99 have rust in the same locations. There are quite a few threads in the archives about this topic (although you may have to wait until the indexes are rebuilt to find all of them).



Some have had success getting DC to warranty them, I did not as I was over the 100,000 rust warranty. Might be worth checking with your friendly dealer, maybe your luck will be better than mine.

 

[Vaman]

I believe the corrosion waranty is 5 years. My truck is a 98. 5 so I'm pretty sure that I'm SOL. From the people I've talked to, it doesn't sound like there's much you can do with the doors either. It's going to look pretty funny in a few more years having an otherwise very well kept truck with seriously rusty doors.

 

[DKupfrian]

It's going to look pretty funny in a few more years having an otherwise very well kept truck with seriously rusty doors.

Don't worry. Before you know it your bumpers will rust from the inside out to match your doors.

 

[Vaman]

I guess as long as she keeps blowing black smoke and rolling down the road, I'm ok.

 

[dresslered]

I believe much of the door problems can be resolved by knocking out the drain plugs at the bottom (at least this was the consensus way back when the topic was frequently discussed). What happens is that the rubber seal between the window and the door doesn't quite keep out the rain resulting in the bottoms of the doors to fill up with water. The next step would be to seal the bottom of the doors with some better rust prevention. I have yet to do either.

 

[y-knot]

Sorry to hear about the rust problem, but now would be the time to take care of it, not latter.



The inside of the door is protected by primer, but it is not covered with paint like the rest of the truck. Most folks know that doors have a tendency to rust on the bottom edges. They just don't get the same attention as the rest of the truck. There are a few weep holes in the bottom to let the water out, this is usually the source of the problem, them get stoped up. The doors are design so that everytime it rains, water runs down the windows and into the door itself. This is usually not a problem, it runs out at the bottom thru the weep holes. I just recently took my door covers off to install new speakers, my truck is a '97 and it is spotless. The insides were in great shape, but I can see how easy it would be to have a problem. Besides the weep holes there are two plugs in the bootom of the doors, these can very easily get knocked out and allow dirt, mud and what ever inter the door skins. Salt is also one of the trucks worst enimies, an open area like the bottom of the doors doesn't stand much of a chance. You can get replacement door skins or just the bottom replacement panels from many companies on the web, they are cheap compared to the paint bill. Good luck on the repaires

 

[WyattEarp]

Ditto Here On Doors

I have the same thing happening to my 2000 mine is not the actual door where the bottom and where the 2 black plugs are its the lower section that curls on down, its on the inside but on the last 1/2 inch of the door lip, Im guessing thats a better term for it LIP.

I did Por 15 on the back quad door that was really bad off, chunks galore falling off and so far other than a little discoloration of the por15 from rain drainage and dirt etc. . it seems to be holding and not spreading, so look like i gotta get a grinder, and more Por 15 and do the driver and passenger door. I would suggest that anyone who has this problem to get the por 15 go by the directions exactly and from my exp with the rust on the quad door your rust should stop. Im not saying its going to look pretty by no mean but i figure rust stopped in its tracks is worth a blemish or two that may or may not go unnoticed... Oo.