Rusty Truck?????

[shinnlinger]

Hi,

I have a 2002 F-350 with a 7.3 Powerstroke and less than 100k on it.  Here is an engine that can go quite a bit longer in a very useful truck, but surface rust from our salty roads is beginning to rear it's ugly head.  NO cancer yet, but I fear if I go thru another winter I might have problems come state inspection time next year.  

So what to do?  I was thinking pressure wash the underside and spraying some kind of oil up there the best I could, but perhaps there is some better ideas out there.  Sandblast and bed liner paint?  or does that do more damage than good?

Probably would be worth the investment in a hot water pressure washer and a spray nozzle on wheels that I can roll under a vehicle and spray the undersides of my vehicles every weekend in the winter, but that is a pipe dream at this point.

[sprucebunny]

Same problem here. 2000 F450 only 50k miles; corroded very bad. Holes in doors.

Wash it several times. Let dry, preferably covered for a week or two.
I sprayed mine with " Castle Endura" which is a "penetrating grease"

But not before I had removed the bed, sandblasted, replaced the leaking fuel tank with a custom tank ( why buy Ford's again ? ) I painted the rear of the frame and anything I could under the cab. Paint must be on very clean surface or it will hold moisture in and bubble up again.

I think it's better to easily see what's happening even if it means recoating every year.

Check your oilpan .....

[RSteiner]

There are still a few places around that do oil undercoating.  Get it squirted twice a year, if you can.  The oil will not restore the rusted places but it will slow the process considerably.  Make sure the insides of the doors and inner fender areas both front and rear get soaked well, any place there is prone to be rust holes.

You have to be careful where you park for a few days driving over dirt roads after undercoating helps the oil stick better.

If you don't want to oil try some of those rust conversion products on light surface rust, you will have to paint those surfaces after to protect them. 

Randy

[Warbird]

I wonder how much Rust Reaper it would take to do an undercoat?

[celliott]

May not help you much now, but possibly more in the future, I saw a product on a television show once that put a couple of wires, depending on the size of the truck, directly to the frame and reversed the polarity of the metal to repel salt and prevent rust.  I can't for the life of me remember the product's name.  I'm not exactly sure if thats how it worked either, but it seemed good, said they used it in salt mine vehicles.

[mrcaptainbob]

A cop-worker would do our vehicles. He used a siphon spray through his air compressor. He'd drill 3/8 holes in pillars and doors, and would use the wand to lay his concoction in there. One of his requirements was for us to make sure it was driven on a dry and dusty road before we brought it over, He mixed 5 W oil with kerosene. Not sure what the mix was...50/50?, but it worked well! He collected and refurbished Avantis. Every one of which was like new. My long deceased FIL told of when he was a bellhop at a high end hotel in Detroit. He'd marvel at the condition of the limo's and noted the chauffeurs always wiping the car body. When asked, they each replied they had a smidge of kerosene on their rag. It gravitated across the panels and with enough applications, it moved under emblems, under chrome and into the mounting holes. Never any rust. I always wondered if there was much odor from it, though. Oh yeah...those 3/8 holes would be plugged with plastic buttons, same ones used by the pro's.

[shinnlinger]

Well I live on a dirt road, so I have that covered...   

I was thinking 95%cooking oil and 5%marvel mystery oil might work ands is probably the most environmental version of homejob underbody sprays.  Off road diesel or kerosene 50/50 with melted paraffin sprayed up there can't hurt either but I hear bar and warmed up bar and chain oil is the old timers  choice. 

[Piston]

I wouldn't go with the bed liner idea.  I have a '99 F350 with the 7.3 and when I bought it about 5 or 6 years ago I had it undercoated with the bed liner.  It was in good shape then but now it instead of rust peeling off, the rust is peeling off WITH the bedliner!  I don't think it works too well but then again maybe it wouldn't have lasted this long if I hadn't undercoated it.  Maybe if it was brand new from the factory it would work better, but we're both already past that point. 
I hate salt on the roads.

[Warbird]

There is a huge recall going on now for rusty Toyota vehicles.  Tundras and another model.

[SwampDonkey]

I always used bar oil, applied with paint sprayer on an air compressor, and road dust on my 1987 GMC S15 ;D . Had the truck for 12 years, only got rust when I was on the west coast in a town on the ocean and I never had opportunity to add the bar oil underneath for 3 years. Rained all the time out there so no dust either. :D

Quote from another web site: "Husquarvarna bar oil is a mixture of phosphoric acid, oil, and paraffin. The phosphoric kills the rust. In fact the rust will turn black within a week. The oil and wax leave behind a sticky residue.

The best way we have found to apply the bar and chain oil is with a 3M Rocker Schutz gun and an air compressor at about 50-60 PSI. Atomizing the oil helps to make this a quick job as well as makes it possible to spray into doors, rockers, etc. "

The guy that wrote that is probably as red-necked as the rest of us. :D

[ohsoloco]

Shinnlinger, I've discussed this issue quite a bit with a guy from work, and he told me about a little experiment he did with three lawn mower blades.  The control had nothing on it, one was sprayed with used motor oil, and a third was sprayed with cooking oil spray (generic Pam).  They were left out in the weather, and the untreated one obviously started to rust very quickly.  After a month or more, the one treated with motor oil started to rust on the curved area where it "turns up", and the one treated with the cooking spray was still fine.  The cooking spray is indeed some sticky stuff.  I spray my outdoor cook set with it, and will soon be doing the underside of my F-250 with it. 

[shinnlinger]

Piston,

I kinda feared the bedliner scenario you describe, but I like ohsco and Donkey's ideas.  THat schutz gun is 75 bucks and the wand is another 15, but the tool is designed to actually apply underbody oils so not a stupid idea for someone who lives on salty roads.  SO what to spray?  The husky bar oil sounds good, but I wonder what you can get generic PAM for?  The actual underbody oils seem a bit pricey to me.

Might be time to hit up lawnmower blade guy for a comparo on Pam vs bar oil....

[Mooseherder]

I think the Pam would go rancid over time.  Might make fer a stinky undercarriage. :(

[Bobus2003]

My last 2 Trucks i ordered with Factory Undercoating.. I have on some of my other trucks done it myself, by having the Frame/body media blasted then Line-X'd or Undercoated.. But here in western SD they don't over salt like back east.. My buddy has a '99 Dodge that came from back east and the body has literally rotted off..

[Ironwood]

Figured since a few asked  I throw out my method.

Well first if there is ANY scale or old undercoating GET it off. De-scale wire wheel, whatever it takes. Then I perfer Wolfs Head red grease in the 5 gallon pail. VERY water resistant, and dont be shy, slather it on generously, it IS messy and your mechanic may hate you but man is it good stuff. Been doing this for years and years. Many many old Subaru's I have owned were like new underneath due to this. Get it in every nook cranny and hole you can find, THEN get some old soda fountain pressure vessel, or my current one a pressurized eye wash canister, and take striaght 30 weight oil and cut it 50/50 w/ kero or diesel. get a nozzel that can handle this mess and go at it. DO NOT get it on the exhaust if you can help it. Carry an extinguisher with you for the first few months afterward, and dont go on any blind/ new  dates as it will take some time for this stuff to settle in, and drip off.

Now when it snows, you can smile cause your truck / car aint gonna rot out from there freakin enviro distaster of salt, hell you got your own enviro hazard, BUT it aint gonna rot out on you.

Ironwood