Hole in the floorpan

[H3Fly]

Recently, I was prepping my 2007 H3 for undercoat, for a 2007 it is very clean inside and out. It was a New York vehicle, and had been a Michigan vehicle for the last four years. I took out all the wheel well liners, running boards, and skid plates to prep and spray the frame and the floor pans. I was under the passenger side when I noticed a hole in the floor before the footwell goes up towards the firewall. I took the carpet up and there was a lake under the carpet. I have had the sunroof leaking issue that I was able to fix this fall, it was an ongoing battle with the tubes. It seems that the damage was only done on that side (its a small hole), the dealer said it probably went first because of the exhaust under that section. They are going to patch in a new piece, and then I will POR 15 the floor pans and put in new OEM carpet. The carpet is going to set me back $500, I will post the new part number because it was hard to find. The dealer is concerned with the same spot on the drivers side. Wont know if it needs cut out until the carpet and seats are out and its all dried out. The paint and every other area of the floor pans looks fine so far. There is enough water damage to know it was leaking long before I got it in 2013. I only found out it was leaking when I put in weather tech floors mats and saw the water on the mats. So if you have had the leak, I would check under your carpet before its too late, the sound deadening foam holds so much water, I never knew the water was under the carpet. leave it to GM engineers to screw something up as simple as a rubber drain hose. If I did not love the vehicle, it would be on craigslist already haha.

Carpet: [h=1]19333096[/h]

 

[5gn-h3t]

Sunroof or not, that seems to be the first place they rot out. I blame the exhaust.

 

[Happy Hummer]

I'd thank my lucky stars you found it now and that it's a GM product not a Jeep lol!
My 01 jeep Cherokee is rotting away and it looks better than most I've seen in the Midwest section of jeep forums. I swear they build the vehicles with paper thin Chinese metal.....
My 06 Jeep wrangler was rust city at 15k miles and it was pampered it got to stay in the garage.

 

[H3Fly]

I'd thank my lucky stars you found it now and that it's a GM product not a Jeep lol!
My 01 jeep Cherokee is rotting away and it looks better than most I've seen in the Midwest section of jeep forums. I swear they build the vehicles with paper thin Chinese metal.....
My 06 Jeep wrangler was rust city at 15k miles and it was pampered it got to stay in the garage.

15k miles with rust? That is why I stay away from Chrysler products. My H3 has 100,500 miles and is very clean. And without the sunroof damage there would be nothing wrong with the floor pans. I know its not the exhaust causing it because we have another H3 that we have had since it was new. It is garage kept and has never had the leak. The floor pans look almost new, except for minor corrosion on the edges of the grooves. I have to say for 10 years old, the paint is like a mirror. There were dealership employees stopping by to check it out.

 

[Chimpy]

The long running joke on Jeeps where I live (Ohio) was that a Jeep would start to rust if you just parked it next to a puddle. I owned a couple of CJ 7 jeeps and can attest to that. LOL The sad thing is that they all rust nowadays plus they cost a helluva lot more than they did years ago.

 

[H3Fly]

The long running joke on Jeeps where I live (Ohio) was that a Jeep would start to rust if you just parked it next to a puddle. I owned a couple of CJ 7 jeeps and can attest to that. LOL The sad thing is that they all rust nowadays plus they cost a helluva lot more than they did years ago.

I knew Chrysler products had rust issue, but did not know it was that bad haha. I spent the weekend taking the seats and carpet out, so I could see more of the damage and dry the car out. Other than the passenger side holes, the floor pans look really good for 10 years old. The carpet is trashed, that will be replaced with new OEM carpet. I attached some pictures of the floor pans. The dealer wants to patch in a new piece of steel with some type of heavy duty auto adhesive. Im not to sure on that, going to get a second opinion from a welding shop. I think it should be welded, being that its right by the exhaust.

 

[Bruces]

Should def go the route of welding in new metal

 

[H3Fly]

Should def go the route of welding in new metal

yeah thats what im thinking, the idea of adhesive to hold in sheet metal near the exhaust sounds like a bad idea. I plan to keep this vehicle long term, even when its not a daily driver. Only way I will trade it in is if GM wakes the hell up and brings Hummer back.

 

[4speedfunk]

Not gonna happen.

 

[Traxx]

Be curious what the rest of the underside looks like. Besides the patchwork needed, rust inhibitor plus a complete undercoat would be the bare minimum I would do if I lived in salt country and wanted to keep a vehicle more than a couple years. Another decade and you will have a Flintstone mobile.

 

[Mr_Rich]

yeah thats what im thinking, the idea of adhesive to hold in sheet metal near the exhaust sounds like a bad idea. I plan to keep this vehicle long term, even when its not a daily driver. Only way I will trade it in is if GM wakes the hell up and brings Hummer back.

You don't want to compromise the structure since rust will migrate. Welding is the only option and there might not be talent at that dealer to do the job. I'd get my truck out of there in that case and take it to someone specifically who can do the welding. Make sure to protect all the electronics onboard.

I would think after it gets welded I would coat the interior floor with something like Rhino-liner. That's my plan for the K2500 I'm working on.

 

[H3Fly]

Be curious what the rest of the underside looks like. Besides the patchwork needed, rust inhibitor plus a complete undercoat would be the bare minimum I would do if I lived in salt country and wanted to keep a vehicle more than a couple years. Another decade and you will have a Flintstone mobile.

Overall, the underside looks good for being through salt and rough winters. There is just minor surface rust,corrsion with some minor paint peeling under the floor pans. Most of the front has no rust and the paint is still in good shape. The area under the console looks new still. There would not be any holes had the sunroof not been leaking for so many years before I owned it. I plan on doing an entire undercoat. I was wire wheeling the surface rust off the floor pans and Frame, until I found the hole under the passenger floor pan. I am going to use 3M professional grade undercoat. That project is on hold until the spring now, need to get this mess fixed. I plan on moving to California in the next few years, should help my cause haha.

 

[H3Fly]

You don't want to compromise the structure since rust will migrate. Welding is the only option and there might not be talent at that dealer to do the job. I'd get my truck out of there in that case and take it to someone specifically who can do the welding. Make sure to protect all the electronics onboard.

I would think after it gets welded I would coat the interior floor with something like Rhino-liner. That's my plan for the K2500 I'm working on.

Yeah im going to coat the floor with something, I was thinking POR 15, do you think the Rhino-Liner is better?

 

[Woodtick]

Also check the bottom rear doors and the bottom of the back door. Use a mirror and look above the muffler, mine looked like hell up there. Rust was the main reason why I traded my 3 in.

 

[H3Fly]

Also check the bottom rear doors and the bottom of the back door. Use a mirror and look above the muffler, mine looked like hell up there. Rust was the main reason why I traded my 3 in.

The bottom of the rear doors and the back door have the surface rust on the bottom inside of the seam. Most of them have the issue. It was a defect with the e-coating, that GM did not put enough of on. The dealer quoted me $1400 to fix it all. They said the best way to fix it is to take the skins off the door and put new skins on. Plan on doing that in the future. Above the muffler on mine does not look bad from what I can see, I took all the wheel well liners out, so I had a good look under there. it would be hard for me to trade it for something else. Most of the vehicles today do not compare the the H3.

 

[Woodtick]

It's a problem with all vehicles driven in the upper Midwest that are 10 years old. Calcium chloride being the #1 cause,salt # 2. Beat juice mixed with salt is really bad. Beat juice helps get the salt to stick to the roads. It also helps the salt stick to your car and it makes it harder to wash out from underneath. When it gets nice out,put a lawn sprinkler under the car for an hour. Fluid Film also slows things down. The only way to stop it is not drive it in the winter. Lots of friends with winter cars.

 

[Mr_Rich]

Yeah im going to coat the floor with something, I was thinking POR 15, do you think the Rhino-Liner is better?

I like POR15 and I use that product a lot. Use it as a base coat; that's what it's for. Rhino liner or bed coating on top of that. That would be my plan.

 

[Traxx]

I think if it was me, my route would be patch and sell it, move to warmer climate, buy another in better shape. Lots of H3's around and I'll take sun over snow any day.

 

[H3Fly]

I think if it was me, my route would be patch and sell it, move to warmer climate, buy another in better shape. Lots of H3's around and I'll take sun over snow any day.

I have thought about it haha, what pisses me off is the leak is caused by a defect with the sunroof tube. Without that leak, there would not be holes in the floor pan. There might be a good amount of H3's around, but finding them in good shape is another story. There are plenty of 06 models that I want nothing to do with.