PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

yup, winner

what preventive steps can be taken if there is a little rust bubble starting to form inside the filler shell. I usually take a paper towel or two from the station and wipe down the entire inside of the shell every time I fill up, but don't know if that's a good idea or not.

first I would try to clean with soap and water as often as possible, dry with a clean rag, do not pick or poke at the bubble area,

Once theres a bubble, its pretty much all over. It rusts from the inside. I jusr make sure to blast the daylights out of the wheelwells, especially the left rear, at the carwash. Occasionally I'll reach down in the quarter through the trunk to feel around. Nothing so far. Im thinking about POR15-ing it back there as a precaution.

Gumball wrote:first I would try to clean with soap and water as often as possible, dry with a clean rag, do not pick or poke at the bubble area,

how about applying wax or polish to the general area after washing? will that also inhibit further oxidation from occuring?

Like yourgrandma said, it rusts from the backside... like the other side of the sheet metal. The only preventative method is to remove the foam insert, which would require cutting the metal to get back there. No wax is going to help.

CRAP!!!! :sad5:

hmmmmm...........




these next ones I took after wiping down the inside shell with a shop rag:

Jovan, the bubbles actually start on the paint just under the filler. what you showed doesn't look bad.

mines on its way out, the paint just flaked off and exposed some open metal.... its time to get it into a heated shop and spray that sucker.

Spraying it down will only make it worse... you need to remove the foam behind the sheet metal so it doesn't hold water

Wow, that's a nasty looking rust hole that's not easily fixed.

One thing you can use, to slow down the corrosion, is a liquid "Rust Stop" spray, or simply spray light oil.
The trick is to eliminate either the water or the oxygen from contacting the metal.

GM cars are lasting longer now than they used to when used as a daily driver in the winter.
In the 70's, if you got 4 winters before the rust cancer ate a hole, you were lucky.

I never liked the fuel filler door on my Bonne. First thing I did was plug the little hole because the tire would throw dirt/salt into the area. The hole is there to allow water to drain out. Since I don't drive in the rain, plugging it is not a concern.
Now it still gets dirty but I carefully clean it out when I wipe the car down.

Bad design!

Why they moved away from the plastic filler pipe support on the 92-99's I don't know. 7 screws and that piece is out if it ever goes bad. Plus there's a big shield to keep the big guck out.

About once a month I remove the fabric trunk liner from the driver's side and hose down the filler neck area (filler neck, interior fender, and foam) with a high quality oil to help keep moisture out.

How about using WD40? WD stands for water displacement. Then use some type of rust preventive like POR-15.

The issue is that water gets held in by the foam. I would think that isopropyl alcohol would work better, it's thinner and probably better at oozing through the foam. But I don't know if that will help with any existing rust.

Holy old thread!!

But basically, once you have any form of rust, it's over.