Rust 1995-2000 Ls400

[SKperformance]

Well we all know in Canada we use salt to help get rid of ice and snow for winter driving .

This has provided me with years of safe driving but also seems to have taken a toll on my LS.

I seemed to have a small leak in my trunk which i thought i had fixed.

Unfortunately i did not find the spot or area where it was coming from?

Here are the details .

Where the rubber seal that goes around the trunk lid to stop water from coming in sits (from the taillights along the bottom edge where the actual lock is.

I found water dripping lightly down into my spare wheel well. After tracing back the drips i found it was coming from the seal as it was wet on the inner side of the seals.

I could just put silicone and call it a day but decided to fix it rather than band aid it.

So i pulled off the whole seal and found small little rust spots all along the edge but under where the seal covers.

I could not figure this out as it was still sealing very well and in excellent shape still. On closer inspection i found all the sport weld depressions holding the 2 body panels together along the seam had rust.

There is over 10 small spots where water has seemed to pool and cause the metal to rust.

I spent the last hour with my dremel grinding most of it out.Now the spots are shiny steel and i will finish grinding tomorrow and then priming them before putting a nice coat of black paint to seal it up.

Here is my question i doubt anyone else has noticed the leak or the rust but could some of you who have the ucf20/21 1995-2000 body style and pull back the rubber seal to see if you can find any rust from water pooling in there.

I am glad i caught it early so i have metal left after removing the rust . It is in a place no one looks but it is very accessible as the seal pulls right off easily and pushes right back on easily as well.

If any of you could take a look and let me know as i have a feeling it is a design defect which is causing the water to pool in the tiny spot weld points.

thanks

[nc211]

SK, as you know, I live in the south. We don't get that much road salt down here, but we get enough. When there is a 20% chance of snow in general, the town shuts down and becomes a Nascar icerink..sponsored by Budweiser might I ad. You think a hurricane party is fun? Give a southerner a snow ball, and watch the delight shine! I checked my trunk seal about 3 months ago and found no rust. However, I do have a rock chip on my hood "very tiny, maybe the side of the end of a ballpoint pen" that has rust showing. I sympathize with you, and all others who live in northern areas where road salt is needed. That stuff is like driving a SUV through the surf. I'll double check my seal this weekend and let you know if I find anything.

Had a 94' GMC Jimmy SLT many years ago from upstate NY that rusted out at 50k miles. I bought it with only 36k miles, no rust signs. 14k miles later, and a dozen trips to the dealership, I traded it in back in KC for a Subaru Outback "1999".

[SKperformance]

Usually on a Lexus the only place you find rust ( on a car that is washed,waxed and has the undercarriage power washed as needed) is where you cannot see it.

On my ES300 it had some really bad rust on the rear bumper re bars basically ate it apart but i never washed it as i never thought of the amount of salt that just sat in there and had the corrosion accelerated by the arm moist air from the exhaust getting swirled around in there.

At least it still have no other rust on it.

I hate knowing i have any rust as it only means i will find more hidden as rust is just like cancer. It starts and keeps going and only gets noticed until it is too big to fix easily.

[nc211]

Wanna trade? Hahhaa

[alsalih]

SKperfromance, I don't have any rust on mine in this area or any area for that matter (98 LS with 111K miles). I'm not sure if I would say this is a design weakness. Corrosion is a factor based upon location (how close you are to ocean), temperature, and contaminants. In your case I believe you have contamination as you noted from the road salt which has become the catalyst. I would definitely do a close inspection once or twice a year on your car and in locations such as this seal area I would remove the seal, clean and inspect for corrosion, and if none is found you might want to consider placing a bead of RTV silicon before reinstalling the seal as preventive maintenance.

[akewlguy]

Yes.. I have the exact same issue as yours. I am excited to fix it this weekend.

Slight rust at the bottom of trunk that sits on bumper and moisture where spare tire goes. Thank you for taking the time to figure out what the problem is.

Cheers to LEXUSownersclub and the members.. Another token of advice that would have taken me a while to figure out.

[SKperformance]

Well i spent another 3 hours removing the rest of the trim and found about 30-40 small spots .

Everything was superficial and easy to buff off but it meant i needed to do the whole area and remove mouldings and lights to get it all.

After grinding the spots with an hand air grinder ( the small ones) with a buff/sand (pad 2 inches) i sprayed the whole edge with semi gloss black which matches the factory black plastic so it only shows in about a foot on each side as everything else is covered and it blends well.

I have an appointment to have it rust proofed and undercoated in another hour to get the other areas i can't see looked after.

[akewlguy]

How much and where do you get it rust proofed?

[SKperformance]

It cost around $100 and took 4 guys 45minutes to do the underside and drill all panels for access .

It worked great and the car is much quieter and smoother sounding.

I would recommend it to anyone in any area snow or not as it makes the drive that much comfortable as i used a oil based rustproofing which seeps and has slowly started to lube every possible bushing as well.

[SW03ES]

Now, I've heard things about improperly applied rustproofing contributing to premature rusting. Do you think there's any truth to that?

[90LS400Lexus]

Being a Florida, then Tennessee car, my 90' was 100% rust free, so I cannot comment on that.

I did however have a 87' Camry a few years ago that was from up north and it had some rust issues. It seems like to me it also had a trunk leak problem. Actually, several of the 80s Honda or Toyotas I have owned in the past has had a trunk leak. Not all, but some. I think I had a 86' Accord with the leak, 87' Camry with the leak (had another 87 Camry that was fine) and a 81' Cressida with a leaky trunk. My old 92' Buick Park Avenue was also always getting water in the trunk, but it was coming in through the cracked taillamps.

It is frustrating to say the least. <_<

[SKperformance]

I am not sure how you could improperly apply the oil and it would cause rust as i have never heard that side of the coin.

It is always a great thing just a toss up of wax(paraffin based) or oil.

[Carcrazy117]

On 11/16/2005 at 8:37 PM, SKperformance said:

Well we all know in Canada we use salt to help get rid of ice and snow for winter driving .

This has provided me with years of safe driving but also seems to have taken a toll on my LS.

I seemed to have a small leak in my trunk which i thought i had fixed.

Unfortunately i did not find the spot or area where it was coming from?

Here are the details .

Where the rubber seal that goes around the trunk lid to stop water from coming in sits (from the taillights along the bottom edge where the actual lock is.

I found water dripping lightly down into my spare wheel well. After tracing back the drips i found it was coming from the seal as it was wet on the inner side of the seals.

I could just put silicone and call it a day but decided to fix it rather than band aid it.

So i pulled off the whole seal and found small little rust spots all along the edge but under where the seal covers.

I could not figure this out as it was still sealing very well and in excellent shape still. On closer inspection i found all the sport weld depressions holding the 2 body panels together along the seam had rust.

There is over 10 small spots where water has seemed to pool and cause the metal to rust.

I spent the last hour with my dremel grinding most of it out.Now the spots are shiny steel and i will finish grinding tomorrow and then priming them before putting a nice coat of black paint to seal it up.

Here is my question i doubt anyone else has noticed the leak or the rust but could some of you who have the ucf20/21 1995-2000 body style and pull back the rubber seal to see if you can find any rust from water pooling in there.

I am glad i caught it early so i have metal left after removing the rust . It is in a place no one looks but it is very accessible as the seal pulls right off easily and pushes right back on easily as well.

If any of you could take a look and let me know as i have a feeling it is a design defect which is causing the water to pool in the tiny spot weld points.

thanks

I noticed water in the spare tire area, after pulling everything out I thought it was the plugs on the bottom.  When I went to replace the plugs I still had everything out from before. This time I could see more water, but this time up the back side under the trunk latch.  I didn't even have to pull the seal back to see the rust.  Too late for me, because almost both pieces of metal were rusted thru above the latch. Water that came down from above inside the seal leaked through where it was rusted.  Definitely think its more of a common problem than we know.