Tailgate rain water leak :-(

[wurlycorner]

Hi Wurly, thanks for the comments, re; waxoyl v's others. Bought a 5l tin when restoring / refreshing my 3g last year, so hey ho, that'll probably last me the next 10 years!! But comments duly noted.

Either way, it's better than doing nothing though!!!

[prelude91]

Agreed, whilst we're here, I've got a slight issue with mine. The black painted windscreen scuttle has started to peel, probably due to sunlight damage. The metal below looks a bit like brushed steel, any ideas of best means to take the scuttle off, or how to scrape back peeling paint and how to make good. I'm not sure it will come off without removing the 'screen. At the very least, the wipers will need to come off to allow removal, any thoughts.

[Wayne2014]

You're right that the aerial should drain via the plastic tube. It's the same principle as for the sunroof (that's the larger plastic pipe you can see in that pic).
At the ends of the plastic pipe, they go into a rubber thing that's stuck into the bodyshell. That's the spout that directs it out through the body panel. The rubber spout has a set of lips on the outside (this design is referred to as a 'bladder' in industry) that's designed to work as a one way valve, letting water to flow out, but not back in under air pressure (e.g. when the car is moving forwards and wind is blowing up into the rear arches).

On a 4g, the aerial and sunroof have separate bladders, from your pics it looks like on a 3g they're shared. Anyway, it's common for the bladders to be blocked on 4g's now (20 years of crap accumulated in them) meaning that all the water backs up in the pipe and because the rubber has got old, there's no real seal around the pipe, so it just overflows through the join and into the boot.

Pull the pipes out of the rubber spouts and have a look inside. If there's any crap, clear it out and make sure you run through the bladder with a bit of plastic coated wire, to ensure it's properly clear.

I reckon that's the most likely cause of the water in your boot. Either that, or the seals around the rear lights.
Try the bladders first and if you still have water in there, then take the rear lights out and see what you can find.

nb: I noticed this week that the drivers side rear light on my 3g has a few mm of water in it, so that's leaking on mine

Cheers Iain!

I wonder what this was?!!!
Is it for my sun roof?
And the white rectangular vents?

[wurlycorner]

Yes, sunroof drain.
The white flaps are stale air vents. They're what make it possible for air to be blown in the front of the car (air has to leave at the rear otherwise the cabin becomes pressurised and the heater wouldn't be able to blow air in at the front )

[Wayne2014]

Your best bet with that rust, if it isn't showing on the outside, is to let it properly dry out (really properly dry out), scrape off any loose crap you can see, vacuum it out and then give it all a good spraying over with some properly runny cavity wax sealer like Dinitrol 3125, or the equivalent Dynax product (don't bother with Waxoyl IMO). That should stop it getting any worse and give you a good few years before it appears as noticeable on the outside of the car.

If it's already noticeable outside the car, the only real solution is to get it cut out and replaced.

Dinitrol 3125 it is!
Thanks again Iain!
Its NOT showing on outside - as been resprayed - remember?

Is Dinitrol 3125 better than Waxoyl?
As the plan was to SEAL the underside with Waxoyl and inject Waxoyl into the cavities next year.
But i opted for Dinitrol (dont know which number) and Waxoyl into cavities - shall i insist Dinitrol into the cavities as well?

[wurlycorner]

I would go for Dinitrol (or Dynax) over Waxoyl every time, yes.

Yep, there are different numbers of Dinitrol, for different uses;

http://www.dinitrol.co.uk/Products/Rust ... wwodi1kAFA

[Wayne2014]

>>> Iain
Mec is right about treating that rust first, if you can get in there/can be bothered. I guess I was assuming you probably couldn't be bothered with that tbh, on a daily at this time of year
>>>

Yes the 3G is my daily car!

Where best to get acid? eBay?

I give it a try - i do bother (just not confident!)
Will the acid not eat all the cables , plastics etc as well???

[wurlycorner]

@vtecmec ^^^^^^^^

[Vtecmec]

I think you'd ideally need to cut that rust out to remove as really you will never be able to eradicate it all due to the nooks and crannies.

But as a compromise the approach I would take would be to mechanically remove as much flakey stuff as possible, using a screwdriver/scraper/sandpaper or whatever.

Then slap a boat load of bilt hamber detox gel until all you can see is removed. Clean it out thoroughly.

http://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-treatments/deox-gel

Then spray liberally with this stuff to try to neutralise as much of the rust you cannot see.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXTRA-STRONG- ... 3a6c216c2e

or

http://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-treatments/deox-c

Then squirt a thinned down zinc primer in there to creep and cover the bare metal.

Then cover with an epoxy mastic. (a bit belt and braces so optional really)

Then a nice amount of cavity wax.

Like anything there are varying degrees of how far you want to go, and all dependent on how long you aim to keep the car. If just a few years then just the wax as Iain says, but any longer and you'll have to do more.

The phosphoric acid is safe on rubbers and wiring etc, it only eats rust (and metal too but only if left for a very very long time), you can even get it in your eyes and not go blind.

Regarding the cavity waxes, I use both together, the dynax/dynatrol is nice and thin and creeps well, the waxoyl does not creep as well but ends up thicker. So, thin coat then thick coat.

There is a bit more info on removing rust in my build thread if you can be bothered wading through it.

http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/profile ... -t790.html

[Wayne2014]

Thanks Pal !

Just about to buy this (Dinitrol themselves on eBay it seems):


Then got confused the differences between the products:
ML, ML3125 and 1000.

I prefer clear (1000).

Anyway, will wade into your thread.
I like the Bilt rust remover.

Keeping car for a good few years for now.
Never know, maybe forever!

Thanks again Mec :0)