[Bull Geek]

drjkel made a great post on how to stop the rear wheel well arch rusting.

Here's a link to the thread (TCCA is safe to view now):
http://www.taurusclu...tml#post1622405

See water channel rot writeup below.

[TaurusKev]

Hell, I'll bite.

Quote

One of the keys to avoiding "dogleg" rust is to seal the rear wheel-well hem. It often has large gaps in the regions between spot welds due to poor part fit-up. 3M makes an excellent butyl-based sealant just for this purpose: 3M Ultrapro Autobody Sealant-clear P/N 051135 0830. Avoid using RTV silicone-based sealants in this area because the acetic acid that is a by-product of the RTV curing process can attack metal.

Drjkel. "Body Rust Issues - Taurus Car Club of America : Ford Taurus Forum." Ford Taurus Forum : Ford Taurus Owners Car Club Forums. 21 Feb. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2012. <http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/116-aesthetics-interior-wheels-tires/140849-body-rust-issues.html>.

There, I cited the work, and quoted it over here for those who don't wanna go over there

[tRus03]

Thanks for posting this Nick! I gotta address a little bit of rust on my rear wheel-wells. It hasn't rusted all the way through yet, and I'd like to tackle this job before it does.

[Bull Geek]

No problem.

Here's some info on drip channels/rain channels:

Water/drip channels:

On my 87 wagon, I have had the (dis)pleasure of discovering rusted out channels which were causing the spare tire well to fill up with water. I've since pulled the gasket up a little in the wheel well for now to let the water out. This car is rust free otherwise. I've noticed this a common issue on Gen 1s at the junkyard.

After I removed all the leaves, acorns, pine needles between the hatch and the roof, I found the seam sealer had dried up (southern heat will do that), which allowed water to get under it...which in turn with folliage caused it to rot. The metal under the seam sealer wasn't treated with anything I guess. On the driver's side top corner, it has gone through 1 layer of roof steel. Passenger side, I've lost the corner channel that the gasket sits in, plus some of the drip channel metal.

The hatch will come off in March or April and I'll be learning about welding.

Anyways...take the time now... clean out your trunk water channels, yank up the trunk gasket/hatch window gasket, treat any rust now, paint it, wax/seal the areas up. If the seam sealer has dried up, rip it out, and do whatever you have to fix it. My prior Gen 1 had this issue worse, on the driver's side it was closing it on rotting out the trunk hinge mounting point. It was a southern car as well, from Augusta, GA.

Attached File(s)

•  0208121545.jpg (595.59K)
  Number of downloads: 30
•  0208121541.jpg (491.06K)
  Number of downloads: 28