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  #1  
Old 11-18-2004, 05:50 PM
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Unhappy battery tray rust

Minor set back today, as I was changing the battery, I found the only rust on the car. Somewhat disheartening to find this on my pristine Texas 300D, but i'll have with it. Think it can be repaired? The entire area ranged from surface rust all the way to a dime size hole. I cleaned it the best I could and sealed it with rust encapsulater.


under battery tray


back of wheel well


under battery tray sealed

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Last edited by rg2098; 11-18-2004 at 06:04 PM.
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Old 11-18-2004, 05:57 PM
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rg2098

Ya, that pretty much goes with the terratory. Most of the W123s I have seen have that problem. Its a good idea to check out UNDER the batt box too while your at it. You can buy a replacement, most at the pick & pull are trashed too.
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  #3  
Old 11-18-2004, 06:01 PM
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My 190e tray completely disintegrated, the remains were scraped out and a new one fashioned which passed the test. Why oh why dont manufactureres
make them out of an alloy or seal them with a plastic lining (maybe some do!)

Mike.
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Old 11-18-2004, 06:03 PM
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What do you mean by under the battery box. The pics are with the battery and the battery tray removed. The tray itself had a tiny bit of surface rust where the paint had chipped or something.
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  #5  
Old 11-18-2004, 06:19 PM
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Not a pretty sight...

My 240 was in worse shape than yours. There was a large hole in the firewall where the rain came in. The fender was through and the water was kicked into the engine compartment by the tires. Fortunately it is in a hidden area and so you can tolerate some faily ugly sheet metal work.

I bought a square of duct tin that would be for a household application. I cut a piece about the right size and then started to bend it to fit. There were so many compound curves under there that it took some shaping. Then I took some sheet metal screws and drilled holes for the scriews at about 3/4-inch centers the entire perimeter of the patch. I painted the entire patch piece and rust reformer and paint on the car's body. Laid it in and put the screws in to hold it. I think I used some silicone seal to hold the edge and water proof.

I did the same thing around the fender to patch that area too. It was quite a project but in the end it worked. I got a junkyard battery tray too.

The only down side is the the duct tin is relatively thin compared to the body sheet metal so it will be minitored for damage regularly. It is so nice not to have wet floor pans everytime it rains.

It can be fixed. Not pretty but fixed.
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Old 11-18-2004, 06:31 PM
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For those that have one in good to fair shape maybe painting them with POR 15 would be a good idea?
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Old 11-18-2004, 06:34 PM
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I would use the POR15 on the sections as shown in the attached photos and run it.
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Old 11-18-2004, 06:37 PM
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As far as I can tell, POR15 seems like the solution to problems like this, both preventatively and as a repair. I haven't tried it yet, but I just got the starter kit in the mail, and it seems to be the right combination attack, a degreaser to clean, an acid to convert the rust to black oxide and deposit zinc, and a moisture-curing urethane paint to protect the rusted area and 'suck' the moisture out of the rust, preventing further oxidation. A fairly complete sounding one-two punch from a reputable company.

I suppose I'll be seeing soon how well it works, but it seems very popular for battery trays and the like.

peace,
sam
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Old 11-18-2004, 06:45 PM
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"The pics are with the battery and the battery tray removed."

Oh, I see, you are down to more than a rusted out tray, I didn't look close enough. Looks like someone replaced the tray and didn't bother to deal with the big problem. What an ugly suprise
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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
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2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"
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  #10  
Old 11-18-2004, 06:48 PM
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I had rust in the same spot, ruined my day when I saw it. Encapsulated the leprosy just like you did, but maybe I globbed it on a little more obsessively. I used Rust Bullet. This fits into the list of most common issues with w123s.
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  #11  
Old 11-18-2004, 06:57 PM
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BTW, this is yet another reason I'm glad I use AGM batteries (sealed, IE no leaks!)

peace,
sam
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  #12  
Old 11-18-2004, 07:10 PM
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oof i gotta take out my battery and tray...
been putting it off tooo long!
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Old 11-18-2004, 09:11 PM
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Agm

What is an AGM battery?
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  #14  
Old 11-18-2004, 09:29 PM
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I'm hoping it will last a few more years and then I will have that area cut out and new metal welded in. I have a local contact that does extremely nice body work for very low cost (works out of a garage) that has done work for me before. He doesn't half ass it, he does things right. If anyone in Michigan wants his number PM me he's in Flint.
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Last edited by rg2098; 11-18-2004 at 10:37 PM.
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  #15  
Old 11-18-2004, 10:52 PM
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I got lucky I didn't find any rust under the tray, but lots of crap! My tray was pretty rusted but I cleaned it up. If it starts to rust again I will just replace it, I really hate rust. I have an OE battery that seems to be sealed so no acid leaking out to eat my paint.

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