Door Jam Rust

Not much help to you, but I have seen the same thing on a 96 SL2. Seems to be a common problem. I recall hearing something about a too-short gasket/foam seal on these cars. Check out groups.google.com and search on this group. Perhaps someone who knows will chime in on this thread.

Max

Here read these:

b_d

I just went through this entire problem with my 96 SL2. I have torn the entire thing apart at all 4 doors and have a lot of thoughts on this.

The only one that was rusty was the right rear. The foam trim IS too short as was mentioned earlier and left quite a large opening at the top rear of the door.

Keep in mind though that the left rear weather stripping was the same yet there was no rust. This leads me to believe that something to do with the right rear door sill may have been overlooked during production. Especially if you consider that MOST people have the problem with this same door.

The door sill area is made up of 3 plies of metal. I noticed that it is the middle piece that disintegrates. I peeled the top ply back and the middle one was just dust that I cleaned out. The bottom ply, although rusty was still solid.

I'm thinking that maybe that area wasn't painted or sealed correctly and water runs down, gets under that plastic piece and soaks in between the plies of metal.

I pulled off the weather stripping and the plastic plate and I treated the area with POR 15 that I bought off the internet for 20 bucks. The stuff works great but I don't know about long term results yet. It's just a sample starter kit but it has more than enough of everything to treat the whole area and have lots left over. Probably enough to do the other doors if they are bad.

I used some black GE Silicone Extreme Conditions Caulk to stick the plastic plate back down and then I put a bead of caulk around the entire plate. I glued the stripping back down with Goop RV from Home Depot. I had to use a lot of duct tape to hold it down and then needed a lot of mineral spirits to clean up the duct tape glue.

I caulked all the other plastic plates and re-glued all the other weather stripping as well.

I hope that what I have done with this process is sealed all the water out. Only time will tell if it worked.

Andy

Interesting! That's the same door sill that I have the same described rust problem and I have a wagon.

Did you get the problem area fixed and did Saturn do anyth> I just went through this entire problem with my 96 SL2. I have torn the entire

I only did the stuff on my own that I described. I didn't even mess with Saturn. I recall reading someone say that they took theirs to Saturn and they refused to fix it for some reason. I don't know if it was out of warranty or if they pulled that 'not rust through' thing.

Andy