[Vwdiesel] Help! Rear shock tower rust through!

[Harmon Seaver]

   I had a couple of Subarus that rusted out around the front strut towers. I
welded in angle iron and essentially built a little subframe around the whole
upper inside of the engine compartment to hold them in place. Not as hard as it
sounds, at least it wasn't in that case. So it is possible, but it's funky. If
you can find a junker with that area good, you could cut it out with a torch and
weld it in place over the area on yours (and not having a jetta to look at, I
have no clue how hard that would be to accomplish) or possibly one of the
autobody suppliers that makes body part replacements also makes those?



On Tue, Jan 28, 2003 at 07:12:17AM -0800, Shawn Wright wrote:
> This week I started hearing excessive road noise in my '85 Jetta TD, and
> checked the trunk to find the rear shock tower has rusted through! The
> opening is about 4" long by 1/2" wide along the edge of the welded re-
> inforcement plate near the top rear edge of the shock tower. I know this is
> caused by mud & moisture caking above the fuel filler line, and I had
> noticed rust bubbles for some time, didn't expect this, as the metal
> appeared solid around the shock tower. The car has spent the last 6
> months outside, which probably accelerated the rust. For safety reasons, I
> am planning to take the car off the road this week (bouncing on the rear
> bumper shows flex at the shock tower...). Does anyone know if this is
> repairable at a reasonable cost?
>
> ps: The car has 480K km, and is generally in good running order, although
> a little worn. If it is not repairable, I will likely search for an inexpensive
> Golf or Jetta, and use this car for parts, as it has many new parts.
>
> Thanks.Shawn Wright, I.T. Manager
> Shawnigan Lake School
> swright at SLS.bc.ca
> http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
> http://www.sls.bc.ca
>
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--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com