Fiat rust

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Hi all,
Thought I would tackle a rusty looking seam behind the front wheels of my 2.8 jtd only to discover an horrific amount of tin worm all over both inner arches.
Van is 16 years old with only 45k, anyone else have this issue? IMG_20200418_113852.jpg
 
Bad luck!

They were known to rot faster than the lies coming from Donald Trump's mouth!

Shamed by Renault/Vauxhall with their vans which went fully galvanised from 2004, Fiat and the rest of the Sevil built vans went fully galvanised from 2007, but the older ones like yours, it is all the places that you can't see where the real trouble is.

Good luck.
 
My son has a merc sprinter barely eight months old ,starting to rust around when arches and just above the sills
when purchased merc said all rust probs had been solved with the new vans meant to be galvanised.heres a few pics of the model
87BD6D41-DFD2-462B-A4A2-BCD8A69FF429.jpeg45828E7D-0576-46EF-B553-0ABE353433C9.jpeg
 
My son has a merc sprinter barely eight months old ,starting to rust around when arches and just above the sills
when purchased merc said all rust probs had been solved with the new vans meant to be galvanised.heres a few pics of the model
View attachment 54534View attachment 54535

Depending on how your son came by his Sprinter then someone needs to kick up a very large amount of stink!

I know Mercedes Benz have an attitude that they are above the law and can't be challenged, but if whoever owns this Sprinter isn't pleased with it then they need to take action and not be fobbed off with anything other than the entire problem being sorted out at the expense of Merc., indeed if it wasn't for the fact that so many non Mercedes extras have been fitted to the van, then I would have been insisting on a replacement.

Over the years I have had some eye watering battles with various vehicle manufacturers and in each and every case I won my case.
 
Its not true galv on the vans but an electroplate thin film unlike true hot dip galv,second when a bit requires replacement due to a minor accident it will not be done as from new.
 
Oh YES! 2009 manufactured Ducato van converted by Adria. Adria's side was fantastic, no complaints. Fiat? I would be banned from here if I were to express my feelings regarding Fiat and paintwork! At 4 years old I complained to the lady in Milan that the paint was falling off. She told me I would have to take it to a Fiat Professional paint place. Nearest was 70 miles away. Took it there. Was told it was Fiat's fault in applying the paint. Told lady in Milan. She rang me back after confirming that it was Fiat's fault. Told me the paint warranty doesn't extend to 4 years and I had, "Been unlucky". So you have to be lucky to buy a Fiat! She went on how it would be an insult to offer me a small amount which is all her budget would allow, so I got NOTHING! I also had to pay for the trip to the paint shop myself! AT 9 years old all around the windscreen was rusting and holes starting to appear. The wheel arches were going the same way as Pete's. I got it tidied up by a local garage and sold it. I now have a new van and it's NOT Fiat!
 
Fiat paint peeling off is well known, there are a few members on here complaining about it, my van is based on a 2001 Fiat but it is an A class so I don't get the same rust problem, it is not a problem on Fiat cars anymore so why couldn't they get it right on the vans?
 
Fiat paint peeling off is well known, there are a few members on here complaining about it, my van is based on a 2001 Fiat but it is an A class so I don't get the same rust problem, it is not a problem on Fiat cars anymore so why couldn't they get it right on the vans?

Maybe the problem stems from the fact that most commercial vans have quite a short life. Motorhomes are a tiny fraction of the vans produced and tend to have a very long life. For the tiny fraction of vans concerned it’s not worth theIr trouble to make the paint last.
 
No help whatsoever..
I had a Morris Oxford 1970's
The sills would rust
Po;lyfilla ! and spray paint
 
I'd be interested to hear of people's experience of which vans do not quickly suffer from rust problems. Are there any?
 
I'd be interested to hear of people's experience of which vans do not quickly suffer from rust problems. Are there any?
Very few as only made to last a few hard working years,buy a alloy or grp on a flatbed chassis,my iveco is as such.
 
I'd be interested to hear of people's experience of which vans do not quickly suffer from rust problems. Are there any?

My coachbuilt is based on a Renault Trafic, manufactured 9 years ago. No rust so far.
 
Renault were the first panel van manufacturer to do full hot dip galvanising to their vans starting with the 2004 model year. My 'Millie' is an 08 that had lead a very hard commercial life as an unloved shop fitters workshop/van up until I bought her in 2014.

Yes there were some rust spots on the bonnet and the roof section above the windscreen where rocks had hit her and a couple of similar dent rust spots down the sides, but apart from that absolutely nothing, no rust whatsoever!

Mind you, I wish that Renault had done a similar hot dip process for the spring hangers and various other bolted on mounting points as these do have a habit of rusting.

So in response to @davef any of these vans which include the lookalike Vauxhall and Nissan variants that are all built in the same factory, they are all fitted with fairly bomb proof bodies.
 
Hi all,
Thought I would tackle a rusty looking seam behind the front wheels of my 2.8 jtd only to discover an horrific amount of tin worm all over both inner arches.
Van is 16 years old with only 45k, anyone else have this issue? View attachment 54526
My 2004 Ducato had the same problem but probably not as advanced as yours. I gave up looking for replacement panels or inner sills and just cut out all of the rusty bits I could find back to good metal and made patches from 1mm steel sheet formed into shape as best I could. I did this one patch at a time and numbered them. I took the van to a local friendly bodyshop who welded each patch in place and I did the tidying up later.
Need to be VERY careful with heat transfer during welding. He did one inch stitches at a time until it was all done but we still stood by with extinguishers after stripping back internal stuff as best we could. Good job done.
Good luck
K ;)
 
Yes my 2010 Ducato is in much better nick. When I bought it I was going to inject Bilt Hamber stuff into the sills but then i discovered the van had been galvanised so didnt bother.
My 2004 van was becoming a forth road bridge job. Still a nice van though.
K ;)
 
I dont think there hot dip as it would be hard to do with all the drain holes required,more like electro plate galv which is much lighter and cost effective.
The other thing is a repair job would be troublesome as in welding,and how would it be re galved again.
 
I dont think there hot dip as it would be hard to do with all the drain holes required,more like electro plate galv which is much lighter and cost effective.
The other thing is a repair job would be troublesome as in welding,and how would it be re galved again.

Ford were doing full immersion electro phosphate dipped bodies back in 2000 at their Halewood plant (MK4 escort)
Slowed the rust down but deff didn't stop it.

When they Swapped to Jag X type production it caused endless problems with warped bodies as the x type was thinner steel.

As an aside the last of the MK4 escort vans were pretty much hand built in, a separate facility on site as the fulfilled fleet orders that had been placed.
 

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