Wheel Arch Rust

[lordturns]

Hey Guys,

thanks for all your input on this - I am really grateful and it once again goes to show you the power of being involved in an active community for these cars. Sharing of knowledge, thought process, opinions, learning and experience all helps with personal development.

I will keep you all posted on what happens with my poor old LS, whatever the outcome. Even had a look on autotrader and there are a few reasonable looking '400s out there if the worst comes to the worst.

Cheers,

Jeremy

[Titch LS]

My 2000 mk4 has some seious rust bubbles starting to show on the driver's side rear wheel arch. (None showing up elsewhere, thank goodness). I plan to tackle this in the next few weeks. How though, is the problem. Even though it looks and feels like one thick sheet, it isn't. People don't realise that the painted outer arches are, in fact, fabricated by two sheets coming together i.e. they're double skinned. Over time, moisture gets trapped BETWEEN these two layers, hence, the rust appearing years later. You have to get some rust treatment/preventative in there by drilling into the wheel arch from behind, (about 3" up) and then spray copious amounts of something like Dynax S50 in there, (or similar). It is no good just treating the back of the wheel arch, you have to get rust treatment to seep BETWEEN the metal sheets. Only then will you have a chance of stopping the rot for a considerable time.

[oldhazey]

My 95 with 192000 miles this year failed the mot due to some tin mice in this area,no advisory's though :) will cut out rust and weld in new steel after work one evening. only a very small glitch in the grand scheme of things with a 20 year old v8 Limo B)

[lordturns]

Hi everyone,

sadly, I have come to a decision to sell my LS400 as I simply do not have the time or facilities to give her what she deserves. If anyone on here would like to take her on, then please pm me. :( If I get time this week, I will post a full advert on here....

Jeremy

[banjo]

Exactly the same places as mine. I've repaired now, I got my guy who services mine to rivet them in place and I painted the whole area with solid Waxoyl. it worked and looks quite good actually.

You have to shape the plate to the arch as is multiple angles and curves, so we presented the plate to the arch, tapped into the shape with a mallet and riveted in place. When I fabricated the plates I cut some slots around the edge with a nibbler so the slots had space between to allow for the shaping.

[runsgrateasanut]

Raining hard and haven't looked under the rear wheel archs properly. Removed half a field wedged nicely in that channel back lower w/arch when I bought the car. Treated and seems OK.

Bit worried about a rust patch appearing on the horizontal part under the passengers side boot lining abutting the wheel arch. Why do i think this is coming from underneath!!! Unable to see t'other side as CD player in the way.

Go on, tell me the bad news guys!

(Dreaming more and more about cheap Mercedes I see on ebaybut I've still got parts yet to fit to the Lexus! ) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-C200-2-0-auto-Elegance/261917784241?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D30775%26meid%3D72f7b020d6b347b5b09f787f4bf5298e%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D121686921694&rt=nc

[Titch LS]

Stuart, good luck with the old Mercedes. You're going to need it. Good friend of mine just got rid of his for a song. Complete money pit.

[runsgrateasanut]

Well Brian, I've had three S classes and a W123 and W124 series and never spent fraction of what this car has cost me since I bought it, £2,000 and still counting . Only the rust issue made me get rid of them. Did your friends look like the one in the ad or was it a rust bucket?

No wonder (as others point out) we don't see many of these cars on the road when we travel about., maintenance is prohibitively expensive.

Parts flown in from Germany daily are no comparison in price to parts from Japan, unless electrical. Chains instead of cambelt saves £600 in parts alone (or £1000 job outsourced) and with two of my S classes having over 200k on the clock the 5L V8's still sounded sweet. Interested to know what model your friend had and what were his expenses? Suspension possibly? OK can be a £1000 a corner but older Lexus with pneumatic possibly have similar expensive faults?

I was going to change plugs and leads today (Rained off) and also replace the Throtttle body with one I bought s/h hand already cleaned, as MOT last July car barely got through with high CO2 level. I'm hoping to discover the cause and nail it. If it should fail I've spent a lot of money for nothing.

I love the lexus 4L V8 engine and it sounds quiet at 120k miles but I do get a smell of exhaust regularly from the Car, getting out and in. And yet on a long journey the car seem to give that 30+ mpg. Overfuelling seems to be ruled out, unless its a failing cold start valve? perhaps those gunked Cat to y pipe joins are still leaking even though I couldn't feel anything. Possibly i need to check that the Manifold has not got a leak. Hopefully this week, if I can get away from the Desk to change those plugs. Should be able to see better.

[runsgrateasanut]

Raining hard and haven't looked under the rear wheel archs properly. Removed half a field wedged nicely in that channel back lower w/arch when I bought the car. Treated and seems OK.

(between fitted mudflap and wheel arch)

[Titch LS]

Stuart, it sounds to me that older S classes are the Mercs to go for then, judging by your past experience. On the other hand, my friends C class had his (you say reliable?) chain tensioner break and wreck his engine. Cost him £3,000 for a top end rebuild. Other expenses included solving a problem with an auto gearbox that would jerk and thump into gear, plus an embarrassing alarm system fault, a noisy engine cooling fan on ALL the time and worryingly, coolant loss from the engine (a suspected head gasket failure). In the end he had had enough and got rid. I admit, dealership parts for Lexus cars are expensive but so are Merc parts. You can find cheaper parts without ordering stuff from Japan. RockAuto in the States is an example. They are very competitive pricewise, including postage from there and they deliver quite quickly. My LS400 is 15 years old now and not perfect but I've had very little go wrong with it, certainly a lot less than any other car I've owned and I've had quite a few. It's nearing 140,000 miles now and there is not a trace of a single oil leak anywhere. Yep,I'm sticking with Lexus. By the way, another friend with an 11plate Merc this time, has just got a bill for £411 to sort out her non-working rear seat belts, of all things. Modern cars eh?