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Why Clean it? - part 2

You will remember that I related my cleaning of the door latches, strikers, and hinges to rid them of all traces of grease and dirt, and their relubrication them.

I went into the tailgate this afternoon for much the same purpose. I removed the latch and handle, sprayed the inside of the tailgate with Simple Green, scrubbed it all out with a stiff brush, then rinsed, dried, and sprayed a bit of WD40 in the groove between the inner and outer panel before waxing, lubing, and reassembling.

Sure, it would sound like a rediciulous amount of work to do when some spray grease could be shot up into the latch and you could call it a day. BUT....

What I found in there made me glad I did such a thorough job:

-Both Phillips head screws holding the central locking solenoid were loose.

-Of the three 8mm bolts (or are they 6?) holding the wiper motor on its bracket, one was loose and another was backed out about half way.

-One of the center bolts that holds the exterior handle to the body was laying inside the tailgate and one of the others was loose.

-A chunk of the fiberboard of the tailgate panel was loose in the tailgate cavity as well.

So none of that was exactly life threatening, but any of those could have caused parts to break or malfunction, and the hour or so I spent out there doing that job could have possibly saved me broken parts, a jammed tailgate, or a misfunctioning or a possibly burned out wiper motor.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

Reply to
Randy G.
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Good points. Loose hardware is a real bugaboo for components mounted in doors. I don't know how many window regulators I've found loose.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

I forgot to mention about rust.

My 1981 project wagon has holed through at the rear end of the rocker panels, just in front of the rear wheels. The 1989 sedan is just starting to show rust at the bottom edge in that same area. I will have to repair the holes in the 1981, and see if i can arrest the rust formation in the 1989 car. You may wish to look at your 240 in those locations. When you pull the door sills off, and fold back the carpets in front and rear, you will see large plastic covers. You can pry those out and inspect the rocker panels. You may find debris inside. Just vacuum it out and spray the panels with WD40 or just fresh motor oil diluted with a bit of kerosene. Do the same in all the doors, and the hatch (which you already did a few days ago).

I was interested to see your note about the various loose screws in the rear hatch. Common issue. I have noticed the same in several doors where the window lifters were rattling. I would put some Locktite Red on the screw threads.

When you had the upholstery on rear hatch off, did you check the condition of the bolt attached to the electric lock motor? Probably yes. They tend to rust and stop working. It is easy to remove the electrical and mechanical components completely and service the bolt. The design is simple. One day you may need to replace the wiring harness in the hatch. Not too difficult to do.

Regards / John

Reply to
jch

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