Weird one this - I borrowed my wife's Ka this afternoon. On opening the drivers' door I noticed some rust smears on the door rubbers down by the sill. When I had a look underneath the door there are a couple of 1p sized rust patches on the underside of the door. To add to the worry this part of the door seems to have almost no paint on it, just a light spraying over the undercoat. I have never noticed this before as you have to look from underneath to see it. Out of curiousity, I checked the passenger door and it is fine ( and also has full paint cover )
We have owned the car from new ( March 04 ) and it has only had light use ( 16k mls ) and it has never been in an accident.
My concern is that it is now out of warranty by 9 months. I will of course invite our local Ford dealer where we bought it to comment, but what do others think are my chances of getting this attended to without incurring too much cost ?
Are there any useful ( polite ) phrases I should use ?
I know it "only" cost us £5k but it strikes me that this is a bit early to see this sort of problem ?
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par for the course
i don't know of any ka that hasn't had rust problems , some at only 1yr old
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This is a well documented problem, Im afraid you have just fallen foul of not doing your homework on the model, no offense.
Pay peanuts, get monkeys as they say. The Ka is a nice driving monkey :-)
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Yeah - It is a fun drive. I was only thinking that this PM. It's so much more nimble around town than my Mondeo estate. ( which incidentally has no rust at 6 yrs old and 132k mls ! )
Could I ask a second question please ? If the Ford dealer doesn't want to help, could anyone recommend a suitable DIY fix ? The affected area is not visible unless you crawl underneath so it wouldn't need to be "pretty"...just effective.
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If its not visible, rub some grease on it. If its touching the door rubbers it needs rubbing down to bare metal, then priming & topcoat. You need a warm dry environment.
Edited by oilrag on 11/12/2007 at 17:48
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Rub the rust off, apply rust preventing stuff, paint the whole bottom of the door. It's the underside so won't be seen. Check the other doors for similar slapdash finishing and treat accordingly. To prevent rusting from inside, put some engine oil in the doors. New smells better than used but used is fine.
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Hasn't it got a body warranty ?
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"Hasn't it got a body warranty?"
I was wondering that, but presumably such a warranty would only cover 'perforation'. I would argue that it's better (and less expensive in the long run) to get it fixed now, but I doubt that Ford would share that view...
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Thanks for the advice everyone.....will look into the body warranty angle, good thought.
Also thought of "expressing strong interest" in replacing the Mondy before "happening to mention" the wee problem with the Ka and sort of letting my bottom lip quiver !......not sure I could keep my face straight afterwards if desired result achieved though. ;-)Probably better to play a straight ball as usual.
If I have to go down the "Michaelangelo" route, should I aerosol spray or brush ?
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Engine oil in doors? Won't it just run out the bottom or is there no drainage? I don't like the idea of using engine oil either, it's nasty stuff, it can cause cancer if you come in contact with it.
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As I have owned a lot of Italian cars,I was well used to patching up the odd spot of rust. I would recommend rubbing down to bare metal,then painting with a lead based paint. This is available in either spray tins or brush on paint. It`s expensive,but effective. Brush some waxoil over it when cured as extra insurance.
Come to think of it,when did you last see a rusted Italian or French car? And for the benefit of the anti-Fiat members on this forum, it`s not because they don`t last long enough! Ford could well take some lessons from them.
_________________________________________
hurrying on- to a receding future
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Engine oil can cause cancer if you come in contact with it.
That's used, not new. And you have to get it on you a lot and not really bother to get it off. And even then it's only 'can' or 'may'.
Just make sure the oil is properly spread around, down the seams and so on.
As for it running out of the drain holes and going on the ground:
Yeh? So?
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I used to spray a mini van with engine oil underneath. no rust and the run off soon soaked into the soil.
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>>the run off soon soaked into the soil.
What about all these, expensive, brick-block drives?
Edited by bathtub tom on 11/12/2007 at 20:32
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I thought that was their advantage, that oil soaked away;)
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I'll try the oil in the doors trick Lud, thanks for tip. Would something like "3 in One" work just as well ? Or does it have to be a "heavier" oil ?
As an aside... I can hear my 7 year old son upstairs at this very moment trying to explain to his Mum that there is a man on Daddy's computer who has told him to pour oil in the doors of Mummy's car ! ........Think I'll go for a swim !
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To be honest, I think WD40 sprayed into the door drain holes every few months will be fine. It will displace all the moisture in there at this time of year.
Its what I do with our cars.
( Based on using a bike through winter and saturating it with the stuff)
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You could try ACF 50. Google search for the blurb on it. Would also be a good bit of research to see if it works.
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Halfords may still sell a can of body cavity rust proofer which I remember as basically a spray can full of waxy rust proofer that you spray into the panel.
I would try and push for some warranty action though as it's clearly a manufacturing defect.
Blue
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I would try and push for some warranty action though as it's clearly a manufacturing defect.
I wonder if the official Ford response is "They all do that, sir." :-)
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"I wonder if the official Ford response is "They all do that, sir." :-)"
to which the obvioius response is
"It's going to cost you a blinking fortune then, isn't it."
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Heavier will probably last longer, but anything would be a good idea. I think more than a squirt of WD40 would be needed. The idea is to get the whole inside of the bottom of the door coated with something non-rusting for a long time.
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Agree with you Lud. Nothings better than engine oil IMHO.
I`ve seen the wax based stuff dry out.
Its just that I like to do inside doors when they`re bone dry in summer and WD 40 although thin would de water the metal in winter. (IMHO)
I`ve also used spray oil and spray chain grease in there as well as squirting in engine oil, on various cars over the decades.
As you say, "anything" , sad thing is no one seems to bother.
If I owned a KA, I would be coating it with waterproof ( Castrol CL) grease on its subframes and underside and getting some oil sprayed into its cavities and seams .
I think about 3 pots of grease thoroughly coating everything, subframes, (also underbody,with the KA) brakepipes etc, would really transform one of these cars for durability.
(I do this on the subframes of our Fiats)
I also spray lots of WD 40 around the engine bay, on alloy parts and use high melting point grease on the sumps of our cars to stop rust.
Edited by oilrag on 12/12/2007 at 08:10
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Thamks for all the tips everyone !
I haven't had a list of stuff to do as long as this since I sold the Westfield !
Every cloud and all that......." sorry darling ,,..I can't possibly come Christmas shopping at the weekend.".......result !
On a serious note though, I will take it to Ford on the offchance ..........
Will report back.
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Well .......I've been to our new "all singing all dancing" new gin palace of a Ford dealership. They were as predicted, not terribly helpful, other than to explain that bodyshop enquiries are all dealt with at their "sister" branch which is 20 miles away. I guess they must have been having a pre-Christmas rush or something because the salesmen, who usually give a cheery greeting, all seemed terribly busy with urgent paperwork !
Thought about going to the other branch, but then decided I can't be bothered. It looks a pretty easy fix anyway. Now let's see....wet 'n dry, rust stuff, primer, paint and some engine oil...right, Where's me overalls .......?
PS - My wife still thinks my son was making it up about the "pour oil into the doors thing" ! Quote......... "Don't be silly darling....Daddy wouldn't do that to my car !"
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