Rusted undercarriage?

Rust is common if you live in a state like I do where they throw a pound of salt on an ounce of snow. My old, rusty, trusty '88 Grand Caravan got so rusty, the carpet was the only thing holding the front and rear together. Even both rear shock absorbers fell off due to rust. If I looked out the rear-view mirror, it looked like I was driving a trampoline. The frame rails on my '80 Volare rusted and crumbled away years ago to the point it can't be raised on a regular hoist, yet you'd never know it from driving the car. The floors are solid, there's no outside rust, and that car has never been in a garage a day in its life.

The point is a lot of rust is over-rated. You're going to get surface rust on axle housings. What passes today for chromed steel bumpers are in fact, embarrassing, flimsy, chrome-plated sheet metal that rusts from the back side in a few years. All trucks are prone to rusting around the wheel openings. The best you can do is go wild with spray cans of rust proofing. On my 2014 Ram, I went up about a half inch on the outside with masking tape and newspaper, then sprayed rust proofing on the outside all the way around, as well as underneath. My friend uses spray cans of bed liner under all the vehicles he rebuilds, but on mine, a lot of that flaked off in a couple of years.

I'm not an expert on many of the different formats, but to upload images, especially wiring diagrams, it works best for me to copy and paste everything into the MS Word typing program where I can add arrows and callouts, then copy and paste it into MS Paint. From there it can be saved in a JPEG format. That is one of the formats that can be uploaded very easily. I might be able to help you do that if you don't figure it out.

Hi,

The vehicle doesn't have many miles, so that tells me it sat a lot. One of the worst things you can do is have a vehicle parked on grass, but we have no way to know if that was done. Is the rust you are seeing more of a surface rust, or do you feel it may be more involved? If you take a light steel hammer and tap on the areas that look the worst, does the hammer create any holes?

Please keep in mind that not seeing the rust makes it difficult. However, some can be considered normal for a six-year-old vehicle. I'm not sure why you can't upload them. What format are you using?

Let me know. Also, let me know where you are located (what state).

Take care,

joe

Hi Joe. It is indeed hard to tell just from photos, but in the first one, it does look more like a 15 year-old vehicle. I'm in Wisconsin where everything rusts out except for vehicles that are not driven in winter. Driving on packed snow is rather easy, but the officials seem to think using salt and brine to turn it into slop that sends you into different lanes unexpectedly is somehow safer. On county highways that are last to get "treated", it's much easier to drive, and the snow melts away in a day or two on its own. I'm looking forward to the day they run out of salt and have to declare a "driving emergency".

I'm going to defer to Joe for advice. I've listened to friends who have used a rust converter called POR 15, or something like that. All have been very happy with the results. I've never used it myself.