FYI


Here is a spot nobody thinks to look at for water leaks:

Look at your right rear tire wheel well from under the car/stick your head between the tire and quarter panel and look up.

My 95 and my 96 and even my dad'* 97 all have large rust wholes in the right rear wheel well.

water gets slung up there when you drive through puddles and driving on wet roads and it finds it'* way draining down the inside of the wheel well and in the spare tire area. And down the back of the rear seat area and stopping at the floor.

If you have this problem get it fixed right away, it can cause electrical problems because the ELC solenoid and relay is right there in the back of the car and will get wet and over time can stop working.

oh, you mean here?


I had that on mine, also these spots below.. you guys may wanna check yours!



^ left rear corner of trunk


^ right was fine but was a little soft


That'* how I fixed the rear left corner.. sanded down what i could, used shingle adhesive, drilled holes in a piece of sheet metal that was stuck to the inside there with tape, pop rivited it and painted it with rust cover rustoleum inside and from under the car. never leaked once after that.

The metal of choice was Aluminum because I know aluminum doesn't rust.

I find it funny that %90 percent of the time its the right rear that goes first or is the worst...

I have the same thing on the 93 and 96. For the 96 the gap was small enough so I sealed the gap with silicone and hope for the best untill I get money for the proper repair. You can also get in from inside the trunk to take care of it and use some gap filler from the hardware store.

I agree I have seen it on alot of cars at the junk yard.

toddster - good call. Everyone should look at their cars and get that area fixed asap so it doesnt speard more.

You mean like THIS passenger side rear wheel well rust?? razysmile:

I bought this car a week ago and found the huge rust holes the day after I brought it home.











Even my fuel door rusted out....



SO time to get busy with the Bondo! And undercoat rubber spray!







Luckily I found the wet rear seat when I was checking to see if the back seat had the safety latches for my kids' car seats. Did some investigating and wasn't very happy. Oh well, motor runs good.

Next I need to fix the rusty fuel door... Guess I have to drill out the rivets holding the door on and get a different one and paint to match. Or pop rivet some stainless steel over it, Big Pimpin' Style!

I just finished sealing up that same spot under the back seat in my se. I dug it out as best i could with a screwdriver, then filled it with expanding foam, also the one above the pass. tire, same thing. It was more or less just for sound insulation, and to keep winter air out of the car, this thing just needs to last the winter. If I had a welder, I'd fix it proper, but I don't got the 500 bucks (at least) to buy one.

Great job sealing that up man, lookin good. B&C I'm still chuckiling over your quote. I should send it to a couple kids who never call me unless they need money.

ughhh...just was inspecting the car to track where gas smell comes from when we stop at a traffic light or the car is idling..... i was looking for the rubber hose for the emissions thing and discovered a HUGE hole in the passenger rear wheelwell. would this be the cause of the smell getting into the car? whats something I can do to seal it up for now? its not my car yet because my friend is selling it in the spring and she'* pretty much car illiterate so i get stuck with all the repairs to keep it nice until I buy it. i was thinking some expanding foam and air duct insulation sheeting? whatcha think for a quick fix? when i buy it i'd most likely patch it with some sheet metal and rubber coating....

The right side wheel wells usually go bad first because they usually get blasted worse by the big puddles by the curb.

Those pictures above bring back memories of fun times - (needs another post)

Those are not actually Rivet for the fuel door. I believe there are nuts on the back side of it, which are a pain to get to. I will check it out to make sure this is correct. I will also check to see what I have available in that color.