Confirmed. Was poking around in the spare tire wheel well and found that the PO had patched a rust spot from the inside with fiberglass patch. I pushed on the outside, and I heard the dreaded crunch of rust just under the paint. As I chipped away at the fiberglass patch, indeed there was moisture and water trapped underneath the fiberglass. I started grinding from the outside and by the time I got to clean metal, I ended up with a hole about 8 inches long and 3 inches high.

It really sucks when you realize that you've purchased a rust bucket

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1984 300TD Wagon

Its not so bad.....my dad repaired a significant amount of rust on his 300SD....and so far it has held up well.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

It does, but on a positive note you will learn where the bad areas are of the car and know what to look for in the next one.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Aaron, here's a link of some rust I had to deal with. Maybe it will make you feel better.
Remove the window seals to repair the rust

I still love my wagon and think it's worth the effort to fix.

I totally agree with that The way the undercoating is on these cars, the rust really remains hidden. I've done rust repair on quite a few vehicles and never saw the amount of hidden damage as I found on my MB.

Every job I've done has been a learning experience. All the knowledge I've gained with my car has made my wife confident enough to let me get her a classic MB diesel too. I hope to find a 1980 300SD or a 1985 300D.

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Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL

Bummer. It it in the frame it seems? I'm curious what some of our more experienced folks on the forum will suggest. Sorry to hear/see about this and I really feel for you, it is a huge disappointment!

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1982 300D, anthracite grey, 260k miles, Greasecar
1999 E300D, black, 160k miles, Greasecar
2010 Honda Insight Hybrid
http://www.chuckwyatt.com
http://www.wordimpressive.com

Hey Aaron,

That looks like a job that will require welding. There are a few areas that are structural and I wouldn't trust anything less than new metal.

Didn't you say you were planning to weld in a bar under the seat? You should also weld in a mount support for where the suspension bolts to the rear floor.

Have fun getting to know your wagon inside and out (and cross-sectioned).

__________________
Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL

Well, that was my plan of attack BEFORE I saw the extent of the damage, now, I don't know what I'm going to do honestly. My head is spinning and I'm out of a car for quite some time it seems (oh well, I needed an excuse to ride my bike to work more anyway.)

This is much worse than I expected...

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1984 300TD Wagon

I would closely examine the rest of the car, all structural points, rear subframe (A frames etc). If the rust is confined to that point, then you can consider repairing, (go over the body of the car with a magnet surronded with cloth, Find out if there is any body filler in other spots.)

I am really sorry to say this, but I have parted out cars, that had much less rust than that.

My opinion is find a real rust free car with mechanical trouble and swap stuff over.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do.

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1984 Euro 300SDC, (4spd standard)
1986 Toyota Landcruiser Diesel HJ60 5spd X2

Gone but not forgotten (some sold, some stripped)
1983 300 SD, 1985 300 SD, 1983 240D, 1986 300 SDL, 1985 300 SDL, 1983 300 D, 1984 300 D, 1985 300SD, 1987 300 SDL, 1983 300 SD, 1985 300 TD Euro, 1983 380SEC, 1990 300 D, 1987 300D, 1982 300D, 1982 300D, 1994 E420, 1987 300 TD, 1987 300 D, 1984 300 D

Sorry to see its so bad. I feel the same, that I've parted cars with floors not as bad as this. In fact I just stopped parting out my 1985 because I found another 85 300TD with a "slight rod knock". Its a challenge to get through times like this, get through the pain and make the right decisions. When estimating your time and money on something like this you should take your result and multiply it by 25% especially if you have never done it before. Maybe its just because I'm 45 now, but this kind of body work is time consuming, and really hard on my body. I just replaced a 1/4 panel on a Rabbit last night and that wasn't to bad, but its a small job really. If you need a car and are forced to try and repair it as fast as possible then that just ads another stress. Parting out the car takes a lot of time also. The car I'm getting is a $100 flight, then a 6 hour drive back with fingers crossed. Won the car for $1,450, so this type of car is out there and you may even pay less. Good luck with your choice. My neighbor has a plasma cutter and I have floors. I just don't have the wiring set up yet for his plasma cutter. Here are a series of videos or 1 man and his rust repair and is way beyond what I would tackle at this stage of life, but thats just me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I2AgwkMzo4

Dave

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Look on the bright side, at least you can replace all the rubber parts on those vacuum hoses

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

Thanks guys. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to part the car out and swap stuff over. I have 2 choices. Fix it, or sell it as it is. This car was a bit of a leap of faith on my part Actually sold a 2006 volkswagen because I had heard great things about these and wanted to run biodiesel. Initially, I had 10k in hand after selling the VW and buying this. That money is gone now (dumped into this car). I have worked on cars in the past, but, I feel like I'm over my head with this one. It's hard for me to find the time to work on it, my wonderful girlfriend is growing impatient with my lack of availability, which I understand. I feel like it would take a solid 2 weeks off to complete all of this work that needs to be done, and when you start thinking of the dollar value of that, it's just not worth it.

It's hard when you realize that you've made a poor decision, both financial and otherwise. I really wanted this to work, and even if I do repair it, I'll always have doubts about its structural integrity now.

Does a heat gun really work for getting the rubberized undercoating off? Guess I'll just keep scraping to see what else I can find, that stuff is impossible to get off.

Anyway, thanks again for the words of support and encouragement.

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1984 300TD Wagon

Yes. First use a utility knife to cut through the edge of the area of undercoating to be removed. I have a harbor freight heat gun ($15) I use high heat on the undercoating to get it really hot (it will just start to smoke when the heat gun is removed and it is hot enough) then use a screwdriver or putty knife to get an edge up, then use a leather gloved hand to pull the undercoating up as you heat the edge where it is still attached to the car. I'll post a picture tonight.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

I agree withy this totally. I've done similar myself, except I wasn't smart enough to buy a $15 heat gun (I will now), but I used a propane torch as carefully as I could. I had a few rust thru spots in my floor when I changed the front seats ( I put in a pair from a 98 750iL, they're great) I had the carpet out and welded heavy steel brackets for the new seats, so I repaired a few spots where the floor and floor/pillar were bad. It really isn't so bad to do. Remember, it should be solid, but it doesn't have to be pretty. It's covered with carpet, paint and undercoating. I repaired the frame rail on driver's side too, and from time to time jack up the car on the section I repaired just to make sure it's OK.

Whether you repair or not is obviously up to you. I forgot who said this but..."If you think you can, you're probably right. If you think you can't, you're probably right"....good luck.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Hah, I tried that first too. It works fine until it catches fire.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Here's a question, how dangerous is mig welding the floorpans considering their are fuel lines running under the car? I'm assuming these need to be removed before welding?

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1984 300TD Wagon