Anyone else hate rust?

[Kaervak]

Last week, auto transmission cooler lines started leaking in the Forester. Rusted and cracked just enough to slowly leak. They start as hoses, then to metal lines, then back to rubber hoses at the oil cooler. Anyway, glad I noticed them before the transmission bled to death. While replacing those and having the undercover off the car, I noticed a rather large rust spot on the oil pan. Not much of a surprise really, just a bit annoying.


Tonight as I'm prepping the oil pan by wire brushing the rusted area to receive a POR15 coating, oil starts leaking out. The leak is a tiny hole, not very large thankfully. Unfortunately I don't have the time at the moment to replace the pan so ghetto repair of JB Marine Weld and then POR15 until I can set aside a day. Should be fun to see how many stuck bolts there are that I have to deal with down there. I would try actually welding the pan, but I don't know how thick the metal is and I'd probably end up blowing a hole through it since my cheapo harbor freight welder doesn't like thin metal all that much. What really pisses me off though is I had just changed the oil only 300 or so miles ago. Why couldn't I have knocked the rust loose with the pan empty instead?

Even though I'll be replacing the oil pan, I'm going to coat that thing in POR15 anyway. Going to take a good hard look at everything under the Forester and see if anything else needs POR15 and going to do the same on my Saturn. Sodding rust.

 

[jlee]

Yep. I'm moving to Arizona.

What year/model Forester do you have? If an 04 XT pan (EJ25) will fit, you can have mine as soon as I swap it for the Killer B pan I have kicking around. It's not perfect (some outer surface rust) but it's better than a leaky one.

 

[Black2na]

yeah me to but sadly its the main part of my busniess so its not all bad...but have fun with that damn oil pan Jlee's pan was a PITA with a lift and a spin jack!

 

[Arkaign]

Yep. I'm moving to Arizona.

Really? It's one holy hell of a great state for offroad fun AND onroad fun. Can't think of much else to do there though. I guess skiing/hiking are available.

In all seriousness though, I always recommend to my norther brothers to come down to rust-free areas if they're gonna buy used cars. Used cars from up north can suffer from a lot of corrosion/rust even if it doesn't look evident in a quick examination. I had an old mechanic buddy, and he'd go apeshit going over a car, pulling the carpet up inside and in the trunk to look for hidden spots, etc.

Of course, with Katrina a few years back, it's also important to make sure you don't get a flood car ('05 models and older).

 

[Kaervak]

Yep. I'm moving to Arizona.

What year/model Forester do you have? If an 04 XT pan (EJ25) will fit, you can have mine as soon as I swap it for the Killer B pan I have kicking around. It's not perfect (some outer surface rust) but it's better than a leaky one.

2003 XS. Thankfully all the EJ25 engines use the same pan. Aftermarket ones aren't all that expensive, but an actual Scooby pan would be nice. How much do you want for it?

My aunt has been to Sedona quite a few times. She loves it, very beautiful place. Enjoy the climate where rust is a color, not a condition of metal.

 

[Rifter]

Rust is the sole reason i will never buy a unibody vehicle ever again.

With a unibody rust repairs cost a fortune because you need to cut out the panel and weld in patch panel, and often its impossible to get to the inside of the panel to coat with any kind of rust prevention ahead of time.

With a true frame vehicle if a panel rusts out just grab a new one and bolt it on, cheap fast and easy, no welding required.

 

[exdeath]

Never heard of it.

 

[jlee]

2003 XS. Thankfully all the EJ25 engines use the same pan. Aftermarket ones aren't all that expensive, but an actual Scooby pan would be nice. How much do you want for it?

My aunt has been to Sedona quite a few times. She loves it, very beautiful place. Enjoy the climate where rust is a color, not a condition of metal.

You can have it for whatever it costs me to ship it to you. If I am surprisingly highly motivated before I leave next Monday, I could potentially swap the pan before I move.., but as it looks now it may be into October by the time I can get it done.

I'll see if I can twist some arms (cough*black2naandJCH13*) and maybe crank it out before then, though.

 

[Kaervak]

You can have it for whatever it costs me to ship it to you. If I am surprisingly highly motivated before I leave next Monday, I could potentially swap the pan before I move.., but as it looks now it may be into October by the time I can get it done.

I'll see if I can twist some arms (cough*black2naandJCH13*) and maybe crank it out before then, though.

I am in no hurry. The JB weld repair, done "right" will last quite a long time. Besides, I still have a rear wheel bearing to fight with that kinda has priority since it's getting really noisy as of late. Just drop me a PM when you get the pan swapped and I will gladly pay the cost of shipping for it.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I don't know of anyone who really likes rust, really.

But yeah, I hate it. Looking at around $2k to fix rust on my truck.

 

[jlee]

I am in no hurry. The JB weld repair, done "right" will last quite a long time. Besides, I still have a rear wheel bearing to fight with that kinda has priority since it's getting really noisy as of late. Just drop me a PM when you get the pan swapped and I will gladly pay the cost of shipping for it.

Heh, those are fun. My big-ass-bolt broke and I ended up melting/burning the rubber bushings out of the lateral links to get the hub off the car. Good luck!

 

[Kaervak]

Heh, those are fun. My big-ass-bolt broke and I ended up melting/burning the rubber bushings out of the lateral links to get the hub off the car. Good luck!

Yeah, I'm really not looking forward to it. I'm actually thinking about letting the dealer/indie Subaru shop deal with it. We bought our Forester used, only paid $3000 for it and so far have only had to put about $300 of small repairs into it. Nearly every routine maintenance item had been done already by the previous owner a few months before with bought it. Plugs, wires, valve cover gaskets, coolant & thermostat, timing belt, battery, tires. Benefit of buying a fleet vehicle, every single piece of service history on it from day one. The rear bearing with a four wheel alignment (needs one anyway) is only about $450 at the dealer. For how little we paid for it, dropping $500 or so on a needed repair that I don't feel like messing with isn't going to break the bank.

 

[jlee]

Hmm. I paid $55ish for a Timken bearing, $30-something for seals, and probably $50-ish for OEM Subaru parts (bolt, nut, washers, lateral link bushings), then either $80 or $160 to a shop to replace the bearing in the hub (I don't have a press). $450 isn't exactly cheap, but it may not be a horrendous ripoff in the big scheme of things.

Mine was also the left rear, so I got to play with the parking brake (drum) system. Not entertaining.

 

[Kaervak]

Hmm. I paid $55ish for a Timken bearing, $30-something for seals, and probably $50-ish for OEM Subaru parts (bolt, nut, washers, lateral link bushings), then either $80 or $160 to a shop to replace the bearing in the hub (I don't have a press). $450 isn't exactly cheap, but it may not be a horrendous ripoff in the big scheme of things.

Mine was also the left rear, so I got to play with the parking brake (drum) system. Not entertaining.

Yeah $450 isn't a drop in the bucket, but for only $150 or so more than doing it myself it's worth it. I don't doubt for a second that it won't be easy since we're in the rust belt. If I had the time I would take it on myself, but with how things are at the moment a couple hours in a shop and we're good.

 

[Eli]

Holy shit, eating through the oil pan? That's crazy.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Holy shit, eating through the oil pan? That's crazy.

Ohio winters and salt sucks

I haven't had rust eat through an oil pan yet, but it is working on my rear differential cover to the point that it is seeping a little bit. Ugh.

 

[Kaervak]

Holy shit, eating through the oil pan? That's crazy.

I'll grab some pics for everyone. The rust spot on the pan is large, but the leak itself is very small, pinhead in size. There are a couple spots of surface rust on the subframe, but those are going to be ground down and POR15'd too. Aside from that the underside is in really good shape.

My Saturn does have a spot of surface rust of the driver's side of the subframe too, but aside from that it's rather clean on the underside. With that said, it's oil pan will be getting a coating of POR15 whether it needs it or not.

I should have taken pics of my dad's 85 Town Car. The last time I changed the oil, the floor jack nearly punched through the underside of the car it was so damned rusty. Car was a friggin death trap.

 

[Doppel]

Yes. First, once it starts hitting the body panels you're basically screwed and second it turns 45 minute jobs into a 4 hour ordeals of snapping bolt heads and re-drilled holes.

I wonder what it would cost to create a car using a ton more galvanized or stainless steel so that after 5-8 years of being in a rust environment it isn't an auto-headache to work on it. I presume more than it's worth which is why it's not been done.

At least Saturn had plastic panels for a while but that didn't really catch on.

 

[CraigRT]

I hate rust. I put in a lot of effort and time to minimize rust by taking care of my cars meticulously and getting them KROWN rust proofed annually.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Rust. What's that?

 

[hanoverphist]

im in AZ, whats rust? :biggrin:

jk, ive dealt with rust on a few vehiclesw in my day as well, hate it for the most part. but out here, once you fix the problem its pretty much gone for good. unless you offroad a lot and dont wash your vehicle. my old scout was pretty much held together by the paint it had so much rust.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I fucking hate rust. I live in Utah, and they are salt addicts. I recently had to work on my rear right door as the bottom half was getting rust under neath the paint.

 

[IcePickFreak]

I can't stand working on rusty cars. Dealing with rusty bolts, rust constantly falling in your face, etc. I absolutely hate dealing with brakes on a really rusty vehicle.

 

[Kaervak]

I'll grab some pics for everyone.

Those two little black dots are the hole. I guess I'm lucky in that they're holes and not a crack in the pan. Still annoying though. I let the pan drain overnight, gonna clean the surface with some acetone and they ghetto patch it with JB Marine Weld until I can get the time to replace the pan. Surprisingly, replacing the pan doesn't look too impossible (famous last words). There's one little bracket where the undercover bolts into that I have to remove and after that it looks like clear access to all the fasteners. The only problem (of course) is some fasteners are rusty. Gonna start soaking them in Kroil to try and help things out. Last damn thing I need is one of those to shear off.


Edit:
On further research I have to undo the engine mounts and jack the engine up to get enough clearance to get the rear pan bolts out. WOO!

 

[Kaervak]

Yes. First, once it starts hitting the body panels you're basically screwed and second it turns 45 minute jobs into a 4 hour ordeals of snapping bolt heads and re-drilled holes.

I wonder what it would cost to create a car using a ton more galvanized or stainless steel so that after 5-8 years of being in a rust environment it isn't an auto-headache to work on it. I presume more than it's worth which is why it's not been done.

At least Saturn had plastic panels for a while but that didn't really catch on.

I would honestly pay several hundred dollars more for a car if every fastener was stainless steel. The extra expense would be so worth it for routine maintenance items.