Rust discovered on nearside sill - Bongo Weak Spot Check?

[mikeonb4c]

done the exact same , just had a poke as i have a bit of rust in the same place, definatley rusted from inside out , got a hole now about the size of a 50 pence coin

also did the same at the back bumper bracket near the exhaust , as had a noticable rust patch, me and the bloody screw driver , first my arches now the bloody underneath.

Also noticed a bit of arrosion around the cill where the coolant pipe goes into the rear heater matrix, have to keep an eye on that. maybe worth checking there also Mike

Cheers dude

Will wait for daylight

Still, better known about than not known about I guess

[paul9]

Thanks for the excellent feedback guys (paul9 - that is invaluable even if depressing - what did your repair cost if it isn't rude to ask?).

its an easy enough job for any amature welder to tackle with a mig welder,i didn't have one and paid a guy 25 pound for both sides,job done and undersealed just around the welded area,i wouldn't realy expect to pay more than 40 pound for the job at a decent garage.
The area around the holes will be quite solid so easy to weld to without making them any bigger,as sometimes happens on older vehicles the patch ends up being twice the size as the hole started.

[mikeonb4c]

Thanks Paul + for the PMs. I'm greatly cheered by the estimate on cost and will get it done before MOT

[lizard]

That is exactly the same as the rust the caused my Bongo to fail its MOT (i posted a thread on this yesterday). It is also on the drivers side by where the air con/ heater pipies go through the sill and into the passenger compartment maybe this is a weakness.

Yes I have some rust there, some where on the forum a suggestion was that the air con condensor spout can cause a problem from leaking to the inside.

[teenmal]

Hi Waycar8,has your vehicle been undersealed.?

Regs Mal..

[bigdaddycain]

I've just had a look at mine, and thankfully it's still sound Mike, there is a hole nearby,with cable going through it, that's why it has turned rusty. It's the heavy gritting in the uk that has caused it,plus, if the cable is ever so slightly touching the hole on the inside...It wil wear away whatever is sprayed onto it i'm afraid.Fresh steel wil rust very quickly,check your brake discs after rain for example.

It's location doesn't help matters either, it's not exactly the kind of place that can easily be washed after a road gritting session. I reckon the crossmember coulld be easily sleeved mike,like paul says, it shouldn't cost the earth,and should be a decent repair for a few years yet, just do a localised rust treatment,and keep an eye on it,i'd top up the rust treatment on the corresponding side too.

I'd be tempted to ring chassis clean simply to ask their advice,you never know, they may just ask you to bring your bongo in so they can have a look at it? Reputation means more than the remedial costs should they decide to repair it as a goodwill gesture.

[mikeonb4c]

Thanks BigDaddy - good advice there. I can't see a cable near the hole but will have another look. I will phone Chassis Clean, just to see if they would do a small welding job as they could then do a quick spray around the area to protect it. This rust predated the Dinitrol work by some time, and broke out from an area that you would not expect them to be able to get at short of a major stripdown. However, now there is a hole I think there may be a case for welding a plate that has a hole suitable for spraying protection into and then leaving open for drainage. Just need to check that an MOT examiner would accept that (they certainly should as I'm 100% certain it would be structuraly sound. but it depends how 'by the bookish' they are).

Anyone got a suitable piece of mild steel they don't want, so I can fashion a plate ready for welding (but actually, I wonder where I would get a scrap piece from and what thickness it should be).

[Veg_Ian]

Well just to add to the misery, mine failed its MOT last May and required 3 areas to be welded on the sills. Front and back on one side and just the front on the other. I was gobsmacked when the tester showed me. For a first time import that has been undersealed and waxoyled in those areas and has only been on our salty roads for 2 winters I wasn't impressed. They were as shocked as me to see such corrosion on an import. I know I have a tendency to slag Mazdas off in favour of Toyotas but I really do feel the build quality for many body parts are poor. Also my wife's 323, 5 years old, UK spec, fully rust-proofed yet it is bubbling around the rear wheel arches (even worse than the Bongo) this was the kind of thing you used to see on 1970s Japanese vehicles not in the noughties.

Ok I could be just unlucky with both vehicles but from personal experience, no sorry, not terribly impressed with Mazdas .............

[mikeonb4c]

Well just to add to the misery, mine failed its MOT last May and required 3 areas to be welded on the sills. Front and back on one side and just the front on the other. I was gobsmacked when the tester showed me. For a first time import that has been undersealed and waxoyled in those areas and has only been on our salty roads for 2 winters I wasn't impressed. They were as shocked as me to see such corrosion on an import. I know I have a tendency to slag Mazdas off in favour of Toyotas but I really do feel the build quality for many body parts are poor. Also my wife's 323, 5 years old, UK spec, fully rust-proofed yet it is bubbling around the rear wheel arches (even worse than the Bongo) this was the kind of thing you used to see on 1970s Japanese vehicles not in the noughties.

Ok I could be just unlucky with both vehicles but from personal experience, no sorry, not terribly impressed with Mazdas .............

Very interesting post. In my case, as far as I can tell, the rest of the car is extremely sound, including the wheel arches. I've just done some v minor treatment on the n/s/r one but I could see eh y that had happened. It looks like it might have had a minor filler repair there following an incident. One consequence was that inner and outer skins in on bit of the wheel arch separated and had been left like that. Moisture got in and started to do its thing. All sealed and sorted now though so hope that's an end to it. So I think I have just one isolated patch of serious rusting and it sounds like fixing it will be quite cheap. Not bad overall for a 13yr old car really. But my Nissan Sunny was outstanding at 18yrs old (though of course I didn't explore its underside like I do with the Bongo).

With a lot of makes, you seem to come across a (small) number of examples that have detiorated much worse than others. Sometimes the cause is easily identified (e.g. based near the coast with salt in the air), but sometimes you are left scratching your head.

[dandywarhol]

Veg Ian has a point there about hidden corrosion. Micras circa 95 -97 are falling apart and being written off with excessive corrosion at the rear suspension mounts

What I find curious is that some panels on the Bongo are galvanised and some aren't A kind neighbour put a gouge in the front panel beneath the n/s headlight on mine which caused the paint to crack. I "bashed" it back as best as I could by pushing from behind the panel with a screwdriver handle but the metal hasn't got a spot of rust on it despite being "bare"!

[waycar8]

Hi Waycar8,has your vehicle been undersealed.?

Regs Mal..

no but just got a quote for the welding, (£50), thats the 2 parts on the cill,(the hole on the cill and the corroded part around the area where the coolant pipe goes into the rear heater matrix) and the rear bumper bracket.

once thats dont it will be getting wax oiled ready for the bitter winter were going to have, good job mines a 4 wheel drive one to get out of the snow

[Veg_Ian]

In terms of the Bongo I wouldn't say I've exactly been sold a pup but you can't help but make comparisons with other vehicles you've owned or known. Soon after I purchased the Bongo I found evidence of welding at the rear under the bumper and filler in the rear bumper section which came out after my little prang on Barra earlier in the year. Obviously the vehicle has had some 'attention' whilst in its homeland before coming here. Those things aside it's the many recurring 'issues' that keep coming up on here that makes you realise the Bongo could have been built better. First the bubbling wheel arches and now the sills. Another pet hate of mine is the paint job. Mine's black with white primer. There are one or two 'exposed' places where the white is showing through. Maybe not so noticeable on a silver model but it's in your face with black. So how many topcoats do they apply in the factory - just the one?

[dandywarhol]

Check your paint code Ian - maybe it was once white............

[Veg_Ian]

err no - definitely PZ

[oskah]

Dont know if this helps but on My mazda van I found Rust coming through on one of side panels, I thought it was surface rust but it kept coming back and in the end I could see it was coming from inside the box section just infront of the rear wheel, I took a hole saw to it and made a hole about 32mm so I could have a look inside and found it was full of wet mud that had built up over the years, I investigated further and found it had got in because the seam where the inner rear wheel arch meets the body had lost its sealant and now had a gap going through into the box section in front of it so all the water and crud getting thrown off the wheel was getting flung inside the box section where it slowly worked its magic and rotted it out, any way I cleaned it all out and got rid of as much rust as i could before waxoiling and spraying the inside......I used a plastic plug to block the hole and sprayed it the same colur as the van so it does not look to bad and I can remove it to check on the inside (I also sealed the seam again) so it could be worth having a good look at the wheel arch incase its a similar problem......the other side was fine.......I took out a bung underneath the box section and had a good look inside and it was dry and rot free and the seal on the wheel arch seam was still in place