123 Rust under the battery tray
 

1981 240D

I have the usual rust under the batter. Rain just pours into the passenger compartment. Yesterday I cleaned the entire area from the enging compartment and from the passenger compartment. I then put Rustoleum Rust Inhibitor all over everything, also from both sides. I am planning on fiberglassing everything and then topping off with undercoating.

I think the original drain hole my be rusted away. Any suggestions on how to approach this. Should I fiberglass over everthing including the original drain hole?

Any other tips or recommendations?

I am not sure if everyone is afraid to touch this one or no one has any feedback.

I did find some local help that suggested that it would be wise to keep the drain functional rather than fiberglassing the whole thing. And that I should just be able to take a piece of hose or tubing and stick it down the hole and then fiberglass around the tubing.

It seems to me that if the hose/tubing is not directed correctly, I might just be shoting all of the water back into the passenger compartment. Maybe it will be obvious when I get in there.

Any feedback?

I had rust in the same place. When I had body/paint work done a couple of weeks ago, I had them patch it up. I didn't even realize there was a drain hole there. OOPS! But I did have a slight and occasional problem with water collecting in the rear driver's side floorboard.

Well, it's completely covered over now, but at least it'll drain down and out of the car instead of into the passenger compartment.

- Nathan
'83 240D "Steiner"
'00 New Beetle TDI

I'm not sure what you mean by "the batter." However, in having done this fiberglass repair to my W123s in the past, I found that removing the battery and battery tray (or what is left of it) exposes the "culprit," which is a rusty area (usually with the beginnings or more of a hole) toward the corner behind the battery on the firewall. If you lay some fiberglass over this area with sufficient overlap to sound areas you should find your leak fixed (you may want to spray paint to exterior color before replacing battery). I don't believe that you need to involve the drainage areas with the fiberglass. Someone recently posted pictures of their repaint on a W123 on this site and the "before" picture of the area shows the "culprit" quite well.

You also may want to try a SpiralCell battery as seen in many catalogs for your next battery as they are advertised as leak proof/non-acid problem batteries. However, I have not yet tried one and would be interested if anyone else on this site has had a good experience with one.

Best of luck. Please reply if you need any more info.

Thanks for the feedback.

I tried doing a search, but had limited success and found no pictures. Could you provide any help in finding these previous posts?

The post was on the Diesel Discussion Board and should still be near top. Link follows if you can't find. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/bodywork-repair-paint-tools-tips-tricks/22637-new-photos-123-body-after-paint-job.html

If you search under water & leak in Diesel Forum you should find alot of info.

You should also check the drain holes below the hood latches. They clog very easily.

Just to confirm that it is very wise to clear those drain holes as this rusting is caused purely by them being blocked!!The rust can be terminal as it eats the bulkhead from the inside making the whole structure weak,in the uk a fiberglass repair in the effected areas can cause it to fail its annual inspection and repair is not economic!It happened to me!
Hamish

Here are the abovementioned photos. I guess I could have posted this link in my previous post, but I feel silly putting it in every post I make in all the forums :p

http://home1.gte.net/res0holb/index.htm

Check the "before12" and "after12" photos for the rust spot under the battery tray. The body shop cleaned it and patched it up pretty well (probably bondo, but I don't care since it's hidden) and then I sprayed over it when I coated the engine bay with Westley's rubberized undercoating.

The "after12" photo wasn't there before, I just snapped it this afternoon.

- Nathan
'83 240D "Steiner"
'00 New Beetle TDI

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I got in last night and did the fiberglass. I thought the drain was directed through the firewall and directed to the rock panels to ensure the rocker panels were flushed. It turns out the drain is directed down the firewall to the wheel well. The fix was therefore much easier than I anticipated.

BTW, batter was supposed to be battery.

Thanks again.

Treff