My 10 year old 1995 Chevy Blazer didn't have any door rust when I got rid of it, but check out what I found on my '04 Durango today. This truck is kept clean and waxed, doors and door jambs wiped down every time I wash it. Just took my son to the grocery store earlier and noticed this in his door jamb. This has all happened in under the past month...





It's documented on my Durango forum that there is a major issue with the '04s and rusted seams. Last year even Chrysler paid to fix a few. I'm stopping by my dealership tomorrow to see what my service guy can come up with. I was planning on keeping this truck for a long time to come....

Ford is having a similar problem with hoods on Explorers and Mustangs. My brothers GT 06 with 3000 miles that have never been driven in snow is rusting around the bottom perimeter of the hood. Either way its a bummer. Did you search for a technical service bulletin for the problem? Might help with getting it fixed

Did Ford fix his hood?

It's pretty minor rust.

However I don't think that rust is caused by snow or salt or rain. I think it's caused by slightly dissimilar metals being in contact with one another at the seam. It appears your drain hole is fine.

It's gonna get worse. Factory probably only warrants "rust through" - which is probably about 4 years from now.

What would the slightly dissimilar metals be Indy? The skin and the shell are both steel. As is the rocker panel. And none are listed as being high strength steel in Mitchell Ultramate.

yeah, but they were probably stamped from rolls off two completely different heats of metal. In which case the chemical composition is slightly different, so you might be getting some corrosion.

I'm not a steel expert, but did some consulting work in a steel mill one time. I was amazed how they did it:

1. Use a giant electromagnet to "charge" the furnace with scrap.
2. Melt the scrap down. Blow pure oxygen into the molten steel to oxidize off impurities - and to heat it up.
3. Once the steel is nice and hot - no longer red - hot steel is the color of clear water, they took a "chemistry" of the melt to see what they have.
4. Then they look down the daily schedule and see what they can make that vat into - sort of a real quick educated guess. If they can't get anything on the schedule, they gotta keep lancing it with oxygen to burn off the alloys - which floats to the top in slag.
5. Then they prepar the alloy add.
6. They "tap" the furnace and add the alloy. Then stir it up with nitrogen.

Well, so that's the way they did it many years ago. It wasn't real scientific, so you know that there is some variation heat to heat.

Okay, fair enough. But it seems to me that the dissimilarity wouldn't be great enough to cause rust on a painted part in less than 4 years. But I guess anything is possible.

My friend got ford to replace the hood & trunk lid on his. My brother's has not brought his in yet to get looked at.

I did a lot of 'internet learning' about rust before I did the bottom on the big boat. Rust is going to happen if oxygen can get to steel. Doesn't matter if it's by water or just air (our air is full of water anyway). If you have rust, it's because the steel isn't (or wasn't) properly sealed. In your case 'cadet, just plain not enough primer and/or paint.

After your dealer looks at it, I would suggest the following: go to Depot or Lowes or Ace, and find some Krylon spray rust converter:


(what I've used is in a different looking can, but same stuff, maybe they've changed the label)...

take some fantastik or windex or whatever, and clean the rusty area real good. You could then mask around and spray the rust, or it might be easier to spray some of the stuff into a paper cup (beware of backspray) and just apply it to the seam with a small brush. Anyway, the stuff works, it'll halt the oxidation. If you follow up by painting the seam with some touchup paint, it'll probably be several years before you see rust appear there again...

Best way to fix it?

I take it I should pop the bubble of rust open, and clean that also, then spray it? Should I remove the black weather stripping from the door and leave it off, it looks like its just holding water there when it gets wet. There is another weather stripping seal on the body around the door frame.

I did a pretty good search online, and it sounds like this is caused by not enough seam sealer being used by the manufacturer during assembly. Chain oil can be sprayed inside the door panels to prevent rust, or something like this 3M Rust Fighter-I.

Think its worthwile?

I went out and test drove an '08 F150 Supercrew today...and it didn't impress me at all. It had the 5.4, and it had less power than my truck. I've got to make this truck last...and look good for years to come.

Cadet, I'd use the 3M stuff AFTER the 'converter' stuff. Yes, pop any rust bubbles---and you just want to clean any dirt or flakes of rust out, but leaving a little 'surface' rust is good, that's what the converter works on. *According to what I've read* converters change the chemical composition of rust and neutralize it. It's also supposed to seek out moisture that's hiding out. After it's done, it's ready to paint, or leave as is...

I watched the stuff work on the bottom of our houseboat, it was actually interesting to see what it did (if that makes any sense), and well--it'll be a couple of years before I'll know for sure how well it really works, but when we pull the boat out next month, if it DOESN'T work, I'll know it!

Got ya. Thanks FR. I've got a spray can of that rust converter stuff in the garage. Dealer took a look at it today, and is going to get in touch with Chrysler. It's doubtful they will do anything though, since it's not technically an "outer body panel" or rusted through.

Are all the doors doing that or just one?

What about bringing it to a body shop and getting there thoughts on repair?

Seems like newer vehicles are holding up to corrosion very well. My Expedition (2004) is getting rust bubbles on the rear tail gate around the plastic license plate cover/hatch handle piece. I need to get that fixed.