Rust Database

[Stadawim]

Did anybody successfully start one of these? If not, can we? Maybe for all models, but primarily for these (since it's one of mine?)I've just got through searching for a particular rust issue i know of and didn't find mention of it here, so i am going to start a list with the ones i know and feel free to jump on in...

 

• Trunk Lid Chrome Strip - either end at the body

           Caused by - the strip rubs on the trunk lid at the ends taking paint with it

           Fix (brought to you by durasel) - take off the inside trunk trim (minding the clips) to get to the chrome molding

                   the pull handle has torx screws to unscrew; they are stationary so you have to pull out on the molding or grip the studs to get it off as well as 2 white plastic lock clips that you have to depress

                   tape off the area, sand off the rust, put on rust neutralizer, prime and paint

                   recommend putting a bit of foam cushioning to keep the paint from being dug into again

• Passenger Doors Inner Lip (front & rear) - at edges of each door where the body metal is folded to inside; typically noted on rear doors

           Caused by - elements; typical route for rain drainage as well as road debris to get in and stay

          Fix - sand off rust, neutralize, prime and paint

                  silicone caulk seam area of metal to prevent future water drainage issues

• Rocker Panel - seems to start in front of the rear wheels

           Caused by - most likely drainage issue around wheel well, but could be road debris collector

          Fix - sand off rust, neutralize, prime and paint

 

This last one was the reason i wanted to get this going because i wanted to ask about this. I have personally seen 4 Fusions in this model year grouping with this trouble, one of which has a nice grapefruit-sized hole. This one concerns me because mine is developing this; i already see the paint bubbling on the surface with tip breaks indicating imminent rust breakthrough. I was hoping someone knew exactly where or how this one comes about in an effort to thwart this before it gets ridiculous, like the other one i saw. Two of these are in my parking lot at work. Actually wouldn't mind getting the pix in here as well.

 

Edited October 12, 2019 by Stadawim
additions

[confused ford owner]

Get a Toyota fusion...aka corrolla

[BlueOval2010]

Yep - my 2010 Sport has rust in all areas noted above. I've been fighting it every year for the last 4 years. 

[red454]

2011 with bubbles forming in the paint right in front of the rear wheels.  Used a razor blade to cut the bubbles off and there was moisture behind the paint.  Water is getting in and I don't want to fix the rust without stopping the water accumulation.  This is the passenger side from a few months ago but the driver side is staring to show a few small bubbles.

[fusionmanor]

Red454, notice that black plastic wing pulling away from the rocker, they get loose and fill up with sand and hold water. Also if any of the foam plugs along the bottom of the rockers are missing or damaged will do the same. The bottom of the front fenders will hold everything, just pull the plastic wheel liner back and have a look inside, and don't forget about the trans cooler lines that rust out at their plastic holders on the bottom of the rad core support........   

[red454]

Ok - thanks for the info.  I will have to get under there and take a good look.

 

[FFHinVA]

2010 Hybrid started having water bubbles on rocker panel just in front of driver side rear wheel. 

 

I slit open the bubbles and water came out. Painted undercoat peeled back. 

I pulled off the  mudflap/deflector and trapped debris and sand came out. (Is the hole under the mudflap another drain hole?) (See 2 attached pics of bubbles on side, mudflap, and hole )

I started poking around and pushed through a thin section in the bottom. (see pic) I opened up the hole and looked inside with a borescope.

 

Majority of rust scaling seems to be in the back (near wheel), not in the front. and heaviest on bottom and then moves up the side of the rocker panel.

There are four drains located on the pinch weld, maybe one inch raised area each. One is right next to mudflap. There weren't clogged. I could see the plastic line I inserted from inside with the borescope.

The drains though, don't drain the outer recessed section. There is maybe a 1/4" depression, couple inch wide (you can see from bottom) that could retain water. There should be drains or cleanout plugs in these lower sections.

 

Note that the rocker panel seems to be a a cosmetic panel because there is a thicker beam inside. The beam and the rocker panel converge in the back into a very tight area that would not encourage drying if wet. Also, the road debris collected on the mud flap may be working it's way in. 

 (Not sure I even understand the purpose of this mudflap. Others call it an air dam that routes the air around the tire. Maybe just remove it completely? Is this the source of the moisture?)

 

There are two videos on You Tube: "2010 Ford Fusion rocker panel rust" (Really bad!) and "2011 Fusion leak fix? Stop the rust!". (Thinks water is getting in via the wheel well liner retainer-I don't think so).

 

For my car, I'm trying to clean the scale out with a wire and fingers, and then I'm going to shoot  Liquid Film (Amazon) into the cavity, and then close up the grinded out hole with a rubber plug. And then sand, repair, repaint outside.

 

This defect in the design completely surprised me.  If this was 1970, I would understand, but this shouldn't be occurring in a 2010 car.

[FFHinVA]

Maybe the rear "air deflector" (#11778 on diagram attached, PN 5411779) is catching all the debris from tire rotation (counterclockwise) and pumping it inside the rear rocker panel area?

Maybe solution is to tape/caulk seam or lip inside wheel well where deflector sits on edge?

Or maybe front edge of deflector is picking up thrown water and debris from front tire?

Maybe just remove deflector altogether? 

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by FFHinVA
Added amplification.

[andyross]

Running into the EXACT same issue with my 2011.

 

[FFHinVA]

This really needs to be a Ford TSB send out, or an "urgent rust alert" on this forum so that everyone will check their rocker panel in this area. And at least clean off the deflector (maybe).

And... maybe remove the deflector completely, if that's the fix. 

Time is not on anyone's side.

(Also wondering if road salt is the culprit. And not just moisture. Do any Florida, Arizona or Ca owners have the same issue?) 

Edited June 9, 2021 by FFHinVA
Clarify salt comment

[21152Hybrid]

I bought all the supplies to fix the rust and repaint

problem is how do i prevent the water from getting in again

Seems like a simple problem on the design board that was overlooked

Any word from Ford on this?

#losingmeFord

[piratepress]

I'm noticing these all look like "Rust Belt" cars so I'm wondering if that's the primary issue (i.e. salt on the roads)?

 

The paint on my 2010 Fusion looks great and doesn't have any rust on it. 

[FFHinVA]

That may hopefully be the case, IE its road salt related, and not purely due to water intrusion. But, moisture being trapped anywhere will eventually be a problem. Salt just accelerates the corrosion.

 

But, in any case, when this happens, it seems to happen very quickly. And it's not very noticeable because its way low on the rocker panel underneath the undercoating.

The undercoating works as a structural surface or glue of sorts that keeps it all together even though its rusted through. (So, it may look ok today, but next month who knows.)

 

I noticed when I wash my car (or if it was raining), that the water runs down the side, and wraps underneath down to the air deflector, and then flows underneath into where the air deflector is attached. So, water is being trapped or obstructed by the plastic piece, and it might just be a lot of water hitting that one area where there is access to inside the rocker  panel.

 

You can pull the plastic piece off and look inside the hole with a borescope for rust. (Borescopes are cheap, on Amazon.) Or have your local garage take a quick look. You can't really let it go, because although at first its cosmetic, it then becomes structural because that's a jack lift area.

[robinsone]

So I've determined the source of the water penetration of the rear rocker panel rust. It's due to a faulty seam sealer gap that eventually opens up. This gap is behind the plastic wheel cowling and is in front of the wheel. It should be obvious if you take the plastic wheel off cowling off. You can easily see the rust hole that leads into the rocker panel. So the water gets inside the rocker panel and rusts it from the inside out. If you have visible rust here, trust me it's much, much worse than whatever it may look like from the outside. If you have visible rust on the outside, it needs to be addressed immediately. The solution was to remove the rust then I applied POR-15, a minimum of two coats. Then I applied seam sealer and went ahead and re-seamed the entire wheel well just for good measure. The day after a rain I went back to check things and you can see the water stain or remnants of where water had been. So water was clearly getting in behind the plastic cowl. In addition, there seemed to be an accumulation of dirt/sand, etc toward the rear of the cowl so I removed it and applied seam sealer there too. I'd also take a look at the FRONT driver side cowl there was a massive accumulation of material leaves etc which when following rain could remain wet for weeks and lead to rust. 

[robinsone]

For the rear doors the rust there hopefully is superficial, but something that just needs to be removed and can be done with a Dremel. I applied POR-15 here too, two coats, and will see how long it lasts. 

[herring]

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum.  I have a 2010 Fusion SE and have lately noticed rust bubbles (i.e. rust coming out from the inside) in front of the passenger side rear wheel (pic attached).   Driver's side does not have this issue.

So it looks like I need to remove the plastic 'air diverter' to get access inside?  I'm not an auto body expert but have a 40-year-old antique and have had good luck with that by spraying oil (particularly chainsaw bar oil) inside body panels.  Are there any specific directions for removing the rear wheel well liner for 2010-2012 Fusions?

[FFHinVA]

Inner wheel well panel is easily removed. Need to take wheel off first. See the diagram on my 23 March 2021 post for attachment points.

 

 Looking at Robinsone pics above, I didn't have the extreme amount of debris behind the cover, nor did my welds look bad.

There could be multiple water entry points.

 

As far as an inside preservative, there's a whole slew of fluids tried and compared on YouTube. To me, Fluid Film seemed to be the best (thin enough to spray and flow, but sticks), and most easily obtained. There is a new PB Blaster product that is also good, maybe the best. Check out "I Finally Found The Best Undercoating On The Market... Blaster Surface Shield" by Repair Geek. This guy is thorough, logical, and articulate. But, he is focusing on exposed surfaces.

Inside the Fusion rocker panel is a somewhat protected environment, except for the humidity.

Edited December 27, 2021 by FFHinVA
typo

[herring]

So what I did was:

1. Remove the "air deflector"--1 10mm bolt.  Noted that it has a shallow "pocket" which was filled with damp dirt.  Scrub that out.  No obvious corrosion around the drain hole which it covered up (first pic).
2. After jacking car up and removing wheel, pull off 3 trim clips and pull out liner near rocker panel.
3. Clean out accumulated dirt, no sign of rust. (continued)

[herring]

4. Note that right above area of corrosion is a place where the seal on the door meets the door frame.  A hole(s) drilled here will be covered by the seal when the door is closed.  Drill a couple holes over the corrosion area.  Plug up drain hole under rocker panel as best as possible with a rag/paper towel. Use an old weed sprayer and some used motor oil to inject oil into holes.  (Note, put an oilpan underneath to catch what dribbles out, which I forgot to do.  Otherwise, dig up oily dirt and throw in trash.)

5. When oil stops dribbling out, replace the air deflector.

 

To do what I did, you'll need a bigger drill bit than comes with a regular set of bits.  I used a 5/16, but it depends on what size head your sprayer has.

 

In my case, I already had the drill bit, an old sprayer, and some used motor oil.  But even if you went out and bought a sprayer, bit and quart of chainsaw bar oil (which is good for this purpose) you should be under $25.

 

This is not a perfect solution, but it's easy and cheap, and based on my experience with other cars will slow down rust coming from inside.

 

On the driver's side, I removed the air diverter and felt around inside the hole as best I could.  It seemed dry and smooth.  I removed the wheel well liner and checked for rust.  Since those were clean and there was no sign of bubbling on the rocker panel, I decided not to do the drill and spray bit.  But I will be keeping an eye on it.  And I'll spray more oil into the holes on the passenger side each year.

 

I am conflicted about what to do with the air diverters.  Leaving them off will let salt get inside the rocker panel in winter, but leaving them on interferes with drainage once dirt accumulates.  They should at least be cleaned out annually.  On other cars I've seen drain holes fitted with rubber plugs that allow drainage but not water/salt to go up inside.  This is definitely a design issue.

[FFHinVA]

Concerning the hole left from the air deflector, I had same concern.

I used a piece of waterproof rubber tape (T-Rex or Gorilla?) to cover the hole, but then inserted a plastic tube (ink pen part maybe?) at an angle down, and pointing aft.

If water did accumulate it could drain out.

Note that there are also drains in the crimped metal seam used for jacking. (See the white spot on side view pic. Although I guess they didn't work so well.)

This was installed back in March (2021) and is still holding up.

The debris inside the tube is the Fluid Film.

[herring]

That tape-and-tube seems like a great solution.  Easy enough to check periodically to be sure it hasn't come loose.

I did notice some oil dribbling out of the seam as well--I thought it was a defect but it makes more sense that it's intentional.

 

I had another thought, if someone didn't want to mess with a sprayer and oil, to use WD-40 and its straw.  WD-40 is known more as a lubricant, but was actually invented to drive out moisture and prevent rust.  I didn't investigate the fluid film but thought I'd mention WD-40 since it's easy to find and cheap.  You might even be able to get enough coverage going up through the bottom hole, and skip drilling the holes above the rust.

[FFHinVA]

WD-40 is a good temporary fix. But it isn't a thick coating that will cling to vertical surfaces, and it eventually dries off.

 

I would Google "Rocker panel internal rust proofing" or similar words to get an idea of what everyone is using. You don't need to coat and paint it. Just coat it.

You also need a long tube(3' or so) or wand to coat the entire internal area.

I've been all over the internet looking into this.

The Fluid Film with the long extension tube, seems to be the best (based on cost, application ease, and effectiveness) by my research.

I bought this on Amazon: Fluid Film 11.75 oz. Spray 3-Pak, Spray can Extension Wand.

It's enough to do both sides. Just push the tube in as far as it can go in all directions and then spray, and pull the tube slowly out (mark the hose with a marker so that you know when you are getting close to pulling out completely).

[robinsone]

That last picture with the debris was the front wheel. I noticed when I had issues with the rear wheel wells. Given that amount of bubbling you need to get it down to bare metal and start removing metal. In all seriousness, you have a massive rust problem. I ordered a rocker panel from this site https://www.millsupply.com/auto-body-rust-repair-panels/ford/fusion/2006-2012/06-12-ford-fusion-slip-on-rocker-panel-2590643l.php

 

You may not need all of it but that rust is severe I'd highly recommend opening up your panel as well as redoing the seam sealant again. The pic with all the debris was from the front. I would check that to remove the debris. The rear wheel wells don't have that much room, but water does get behind there and will seep into the rocker panel and just sit. It'll eat away at it before you know it. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by robinsone

[Ingallspw]

The rust I am seeing in almost identical to the top photo on Robinsone's Post from August 31, 2021. I'm wondering if the sun roof drains in this area for two reasons. Could this be an additional cause of the rust? And two once spring hits, I plan to do a "at 10 yard it looks great", very backyard rust repair where you use expanding foam to fill in the huge hole and finish it off with some janky Bondo and spray paint. My biggest concern with this is I don't want to clog the sunroof drains. I'll probably end up running water down the drain to see where it starts draining but if you know, it would make me feel better to know ahead of time! 

[robinsone]

Man this is not coming from the sunroof drains. This comes from the broken body seam/sealant in the rear wheel well. You need to tackle this as soon as possible. I'm still dealing with it but you need to get a hold of it ASAP. Mine got worse to the point that I lost the pinch weld in the pic you reposted. It's not fun and hard to tackle until you lose the whole pinch weld area.