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Who knows...what evil...LURKS!...under the battery tray?

3K views 24 replies 15 participants last post by  281lxm 
#1 · (Edited)
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#21 ·
Yep...so do I...now. I already knew about the rust...already knew my car had it in spades. But...I'd been hearing some clunking from the front end for awhile now. Checked over the front end (found an idler arm bushing that was noisy, and replaced that ball joint where you adjust the camber), but the clunking continued. Took a look at things on Memorial Day...sway bar bushing? Took out the battery and battery tray...YIKES! Metal fatigue! The sway bar bushing (which, by the way, was good, and the sway bar NOT rusty) was just bobbing up and down, and the metal it was attached to was bobbing up and down with it. A quick trip to Lowe's got me some sheet metal screws and a strip of metal from which I made some brackets to stabilize the sway bar. It's now very stable. Stopped by a shop to get an estimate on fixing this...about $1k. Worth it to me...the car still runs good (in no small amount thanks to mclare emailing me the service manuals, which have saved my ass many times over), albeit accelerates slowly (hey! it's a diesel!).

My wife, when told how much it would cost said "No Way!" Well...she inserted an intensifier between no and way. She has some flexibility issues, and finds it hard getting in and out of this car. So, I've done some thinking. My solution is to fix and sell my Geo Metro...it's been sitting nearly four years now, so I guess I like the Mercedes better. Get a van or SUV for her...something easier to get into and out of. Check with the local college and see if they can fix the car for less. If that doesn't pan out, and I can't get her to see the value of having this fabricated and welded properly, I've been thinking of some ideas for making a permanent plate that can be bolted to the good metal. Should hold everything in place just fine, and would be cheaper. Being under the battery tray, no one will see it unless they are looking for it, and not too many people are likely to be looking there...this ain't no pretty SEC or AMG or anything like that. The plate should work fine, just need to make sure all the existing rust is stopped. Then have to keep after it.

On a related thought...I've been thinking about some sort of screen door to go over the well to keep out leaves...
 
#7 ·
I know what WAS under the tray, took it out cleaned up under there (even a shot or two of undercoating) repainted the tray, ready for another year :wink
 
#8 ·
Yes, since we are here I would urge everyone to have a looky under there. You can rinse the area with bicarb of soda to neutralise the battery acid that may have dripped down there. It absolutely will cause a nasty hole if there is acid left there, what with the design of the drainage, where water can flow down under there etc.

This is what caused a real headache of a leak on my SE. A small hole which I caught just in time, or it would have spread over and the front roll bar bushing mount is right there - it will rot away under there and leave that front roll bar mount not attached to anything!

The hole on mine just there, was allowing water in and it runs down from there inside the bulkhead into the area under the front floor. The floor in the front footwell is actually a false floor, and the compartment under there filled up with water. every time I accelerated hard the water spilled up out and ran down the wiring conduit to the rear footwell, which slowly filled up. Bloody pain in the arse and took me ages to discover, as the front footwell was not very wet at all - the wiring conduit was swallowing most of the water.

This can all be compounded by leaky washer reservoir/washer pump seals, so well worth looking after that too - I had left mine leaking for a while so no doubt that was not helpful. new little seals on the washer pumps sorted that.
 
#12 ·
I use a shop vac, with a 6 inch piece of pool noodle in the end of the vac hose. Then I insert a 1/2 inch hose about 18" long and I am able to get under the tray, the fuse box and the secondary firewall area in and around the ECM for the ABS. I do that in the early summer and Thanksgiving time (since that's when I get most tree debris ending)
 
#14 ·
I was gonna . . . . . :devil but I'll let it go but you stepped all in this one :eek LOL
 
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#17 ·
Funny you guys are talking about that.
Past winter I helped by bud pick up a pretty decent 300e, he wanted a nice summer driving car to enjoy our country roads on, and always wanted a older benz after seeing my collection.
So anyways, we got the car home to my shop, and started to go thru it, ABS light was on, and I think engine light.. Turns out it was just a typical blown fuse on the OVP relay, but I thought I would check the O2 sensor hookup while we were going thru the car. I pull back the floor mat, and remove the floor carpet pad, and low and behold something caught my eye.

I don't think it is leftovers from a fire extinguisher. :eek
We don't know exactly what it is, or how to test what it is, but its intrigue is definitely worth a laugh.
 

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#18 ·
Looks like a waste of money to me :D
 
#25 ·
local parts store has a liquid you can pour over the entire area to neutralize the acid and render the acid gone. water and baking soda and a good cleaning, then paint it with miracle paint or Por15. The miracle paint with fiberglass cloth does work very well, as advertise by Kent.
 
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