What to do about this rust?

Accumulator said:
(snip) I keep the underside/etc. of the MPV virtually concours all winter long (yeah, it *is* a real chore) (snip)
Click to expand...



How do you do this? Do you actually crawl under there and spray it down and scrub it? I'm just trying to imagine how I'd be able to do that if I were so inclined.
 
dekeman- Well, I have a climate-controlled shop; that makes all the difference.



I use an undercar wand (from American Waterbroom, hooks up to the hose) to get the worst off and then crawl under on a creeper (jacking the vehicle up if necessary) with brushes/etc. and, well, I guess I put a fair bit of time and effort in to it. Considering that I do this on every vehicle, at *every* wash (even in the summer there's always some dirt under there), I'm pretty much used to it so I probably no longer appreciate what a PIA it really is. Heh heh, and people wonder why it takes me hours to do a "quick wash" :o



My5ABaby- Yeah, between my wife and me we've had six Mazdas ('81-'02). The older ones seemed much better built in many ways even though they were really lightweight things..but every single one of them had *some* kind of design/manufacture issue that opened the door to rustout.
 
Those waterbrooms look awesome! That's gotta pay off eventually! I have to admit that I usually ignore the undercarriage. I see it fairly often when I put the van/car on a lift to do the oil change/tire rotation/trans fluid & filter change. I never considered the advantage to keeping it fairly clean, if not concours like Accumulator. I was happy with no rust and it being fairly dirt-free. I'm going to have to figure out a way to get a hose nozzle under there and get good coverage without that waterbroom. That's a lot of dough to clean under my car, IMO. It makes more sense for a pro to have one.
 
dekeman said:
Yeah, I'm pretty happy with mine, although I do see the construction defects you all speak of. The carpet is pretty thin, and there isn't much between the driver and the floorpan. That's the way it stays light and gets good mileage, though. It's been dang reliable, too, especially as compared to my Ford Crapstar, oh, oops, I mean, WINDstar. No rust on that either, except on the steel wheels where the wheel covers have openings. Still have to take care of that.



What is this Amsoil HDMP you all speak of? Never heard of it, though I'm quite familiar with Amsoil stuff. Not so much, maybe?
Click to expand...



AMSOIL - MP Heavy Duty Metal Protector (AMH)
 
dekeman said:
Those waterbrooms look awesome!... I'm going to have to figure out a way to get a hose nozzle under there and get good coverage without that waterbroom. That's a lot of dough to clean under my car, IMO. It makes more sense for a pro to have one.
Click to expand...



Yeah, they are awfully pricey! I got mine way back in the '80s and thus I got my money's worth out of it long ago :D



Otherwise, yeah, just crawl under there. I keep a pair of floorjacks in the wash bay just to lift up the lower cars so I can get access with my long-handled BHBs (I don't actually crawl *under* them without jackstands for backup though).
 
Safety is always paramount!! While I'm under there, is there something I should look for that would tell me why that road salt leeched up in there? I've never seen that before anywhere and I'm wondering if anyone knows how that happened.
 
dekeman said:
Cool- thanks! Looks like good stuff. The description reminds me of P'Blaster, but on steroids!
Click to expand...



not really like PB, more of a fluid that dries into a wax like coating. smells almost as bad though ;)
 
dekeman said:
Safety is always paramount!! While I'm under there, is there something I should look for that would tell me why that road salt leeched up in there? I've never seen that before anywhere and I'm wondering if anyone knows how that happened.
Click to expand...



I'm guessing that during the thaw/freeze cycles it came through from the bottom side. Maybe via capillary action. Once it's thin salt water (as opposed to the thicker slushy road salt residue that we think of when considering winter weather) it can creep into all sorts of tight spots.



Sorta makes you wonder where *else* it might've started rusting, huh :eek:



Spraying the AMSOIL HDMP in some areas might keep such issues at bay. Seal things up from the underside and keep an eye on them when you're under the hood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top