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Mandatory maintenace if your keeping your R class

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  lkchris 
#1 ·
Lets start a thread of things you must do if your going to keep your R class long term (for me over ten years, probably 400 000kms +).
An absolute diy is removing the seats, carpets and floor panels to clean up the actual floors if you van has seen water or winter use. I was shocked what was hiding under there, probably over $10000 worth of modules, computers, amplifiers with fans etc. My vehicle was local but very clean when I bought it three years old with 106000kms. It appears to have spent some winters in florida judging by the service records. There was no salt damage on the carpets or under padding, but there was a salt stain-trail on the drivers side floor pan, running all the way. It was etching the metal slightly, not actual rust flakes or anything severe, but that was not far behind.
Remove all the plastic trim for the seat rails (4 per seat), remove the e drive bolts holding the seat down (2 front, 2 rear, will require moving seat forward then back to remove them all), unplug electrical you will set an airbag fault if you remove the air bag wiring connector, you can leave it hooked up but the seat will be in the way. Remove the door sill trim plates, they pry up. Lift up the carpeting, remove the under padding, all the 10mm nuts that hold the floor trays in place, there are three trays per side. Then you see all the electronics and wiring and heater ducts. Inpect for damage. I shop vacd all that I could, then toothbrush then plastic scraper. A pipe cleaner brush is helpful to clean out under the cross braces, there a couple of chanels that pass underneath them. I only had salt creeping down one chanel, I applied marine navel jelly, then tremclad then rustcheck rustproofing then flooded with some aft. It will not rust again, the aft is trapped down there.
The passsenger side was fine, but my negative battery cable was badly corroded so I removed it and cleaned it thoroughly. I flooded this side also with rustproofing oil and atf. Besure to spray under the second row seats also, there is a cavity hidden there with no access other then the bolt holes, just remove the bolts and flood.
Before putting it back together make sure everything is dry, especially the insulation padding. Keep water out! Cover everything with rubber mats, make sure your passengers kick their feet together before getting inside!
One thing to note the fuse for the audio system blew when reconnecting the battery, it was located beside the spare in the rear floor compartment, lots of fuses to check out!
So far that is all I have accomplished inside...
Outside I removed all my headlights, front sidemarkers, inboard lenses, fog lights, front grill to polish and clean and check for salt damage there was not much to report there, the hood is very complicated with the inner structure and salt can def hide in there, mine was clean. Not sure if I spray in there or not as it will hold dirt then, right now it is clean as a whistle and easily hosed out.
I removed all four wheel wells and cleaned behind them, there was a good amount of dust but not much else.
Next will be the spare tire well and rear quarter panels to shoot some rustproofing oil around the rear wheel wells etc.
Then I want to figure out how to remove the rocker panel and door trim to clean up, but it is too cold out now to remove plastic trim it will likely break stuff so next spring.
 
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