Jump to content

Rust Prevention

thepewterpooter

Recommended Posts

thepewterpooter Enthusiast

thepewterpooter

Posted
Posted

Hi new to the forum! I bought a 02 GMC sierra z71 extended cab about 3 yrs ago. I looked the truck over and it was spotless then all of a sudden after this brutal winter we had (from Ohio in the rust belt) little bubbles appeared in the passenger rocker panel just at the very back. I know these trucks are known for rusting in these areas but when I got under the truck not a spec of rust .... I am assuming it's rusting inside out. has anyone else had this issue and what can be done to stop the rust if I cant find the source of it? truck only has 80k on it so would hate to let it just rust away . any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

TJMaine Enthusiast

TJMaine

Posted
Posted

Mine are bubbling in a few places... I intend on stripping paint off my rockers in a few months, cutting and patching any rust through, ... chip guarding and painting the rockers, then spraying oil/fluid film inside them to stop and prevent further rusting.

02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

Posted
Posted

Only prevention is wax, washes (underside too), keep it clean, park indoors, and you should probably go to a body shop

02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

Posted
Posted

We just did a job like this too. A 97 sierra 1500 reg cab. Took the bed off, cut off the rust on cab corners and replaced the metal. Fixed door rust too on bottom inside. Took doors off cut rust out, sanded, put new metal in, bondo, and bedlined below molding

unit731 Senior Enthusiast

unit731

Posted
Posted

Anyone with an older vehicle should have the car/truck treated annually.

 

Either:

 

Fluid Film

or

Oil undercoating.

 

Done by a professional shop that specializes in this treatment.

 

I live in snow/road salt country.

 

My 18 year old car has zero rust. Treated every year.

SG Lou Enthusiast

SG Lou

Posted
Posted

The body on my 03 Silverado is still pretty much rust free. My concern is the frame area towards the rear. I already replaced brake lines and leaf spring shackles due to rust. Other then using the Por 15 stuff is there anything else i can spray on there to slow the rust down? I was thinking of just scrapping the rusted areas and undercoating. Any ideas and suggestions greatly appreciated !

Lou

  • 1 month later...
HondaHawkGT Senior Enthusiast

HondaHawkGT

Posted
Posted

Fluid film works great. Buy the 1 gallon can . Spray or brush it on once a year and you'll be set. You can even apply it to rusty metal. It seeps into the rust until it reaches good steel.

  • 3 weeks later...
Gmborn&raised Enthusiast

Gmborn&raised

Posted
Posted

You can buy rust proofing wax from any body shop supply company it works great spray it in every place you can it will seal any welded or folded seams and doesn't wash off

  • 4 weeks later...
2017SierraSLT Senior Enthusiast

2017SierraSLT

Posted
Posted

I use Fluid Film on everything EXCEPT the wax coated frame. Fluid Film will dissolve the OEM black wax coating. I have zero rust anywhere on the truck.

HondaHawkGT Senior Enthusiast

HondaHawkGT

Posted
Posted

The factory wax does more to help rust the frame than it does to prevent it. The wax is already peeling off any edges on the frame by the time it's delivered to the dealer. Water and salt seep under the cheap wax, which then goes to work on the steel. This is why we're seeing trucks on the lot with rust bubbling up under the wax. Honestly I'd prefer it if GM would leave the frame bare or just lightly oiled so I could give it a proper coat of POR-15.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Grumpy Bear
      J&L OIL SEPARATOR CO

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      Just did an injector/HPFP replacement on Pepper at 192,400 miles; close enough to 200K, RIGHT? (If 200K is considered life end and to me it isn't). But hey, to each his own.    Have never run a catch can on this vehicle. Back side of every valve looked like a new valve spray painted semigloss black. Port walls looked 'neat' (all a normal result of passive EGR via VVT) Zero build up even in AFM cylinders. Just color. It uses no measurable oil and never has.    At 155,000 I put her on E-85 and a borescope of the cylinders at plug change showed very clean pistons and valve faces. The replaced injector tips looked new. (It was the pump piston seal that was leaking). Oh well, have six good backups.    Still gets 28 mpg on gas (highway average) and over 20 (highway) on alky. UOA's look good and runs as good now as it did when I bought it. Better in fact.    What improvement would a Catch Can provide this motor?     And given all this I expect that IF I installed one I'd see some water/gas/oil vapor accumulation. Byproducts of normal combustion.   Having said that, IF my motor used an appreciable amount of oil I'd consider it a useful 'crutch' until I had the situation corrected OR if bore polished, until I junked it or rebuilt it to stave off repeated plug fouling.    I'm not telling you what I THINK. But what its DONE.          
    • Grumpy Bear
      Starting a new thread regarding mounting my 2014 OEM wheels to my 2026

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      Love the look. I'm a SCSB lover myself.    Two items. 1.) A spacer changes scrub radius but this also changes when we use wheels of different offsets. A little isn't a big deal. 2.) Steel wheels, alloy wheels all have different thickness. Same effect on the stud and lug nut as a spacer. When hub centric the wheel isn't supported by the stud. It's supported by the hub. The stud just keeps it all together.  
    • JAI3
      2016 Sierra 5.3L L83 new injectors now runs rich.

      By JAI3 · Posted

      I had a evap sol go bad a couple weeks ago. . I replaced it.  While watching live data at the time I saw I had some cylinder 1 misfires. No MIL but on live data I could see ~50 at startup and about 70 more after an hour a drive all on cyl 1.  I also noticed that the LTFT were -5% to -15% always.  And that bank 2 is always -3% richer than bank 1. Even across all driving modes, city, highway, etc it’s always 3% richer than bank 1. So I start with the misfire. Swapped coil, plug, and plug wires from 1 to 3. No follow. I got an Injector reseal kit, pulled the D/s injector rail, swapped #1 and #3 injectors, resealed them, reinstalled and retested.  The misfire followed to 3. So I ordered and replaced all 8 injectors, spark plugs, and plug wires. Also replaced the 1 time use fuel pipes under the intake manifold.  Injectors that were in the truck since new were  Part # 12668390.  I replaced them with # 12742701 Got from RockAuto. Pretty certain they’re genuine and the correct ones. I called a friend at a parts store who told me “the 12742701 were the correct superseded part # for the originals I was replacing”. So started truck after replacing all that and it’s running -15 - -30 LTFTs. I reset the fuel trims with GDS2 and drove it for a 60 miles trip each way. There have been no changes in the LTFTs.  I checked if the HPFP was leaking into the crankcase. I removed the pvc and watched the trims. No difference.  I checked the alcohol content and it was at 10%  I’m out of ideas here. Truck seems to run great. Just always rich on the fuel trims.  Anyone with any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.  I ran an injector balance test just for the heck of it and it came back this. I’m confused.  I have gds2 and some other diag tools if anyone knows of anything I should test next.
    • Coastie05
      Will not stay in Reverse

      By Coastie05 · Posted

      Definitely needs to go back to the dealer. 
    • Grumpy Bear
      Wow I'm in a pickle. (Broke down truck) and a story.

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      No, but don't skimp on safe! 😉 

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...