Does anyone know how prevalent rust is on the underside of the doors?

I was looking at a 2001 F150 and happened to notice a few rust bubbles forming on the underside of the drivers door. This made me hesitant to purchase it. However, I wasn't sure if I would find this problem with many trucks. I would hate to pass up this truck because of this rust, only to find that every other one I look at is the same way. It is nothing serious now, but I afraid that in 3 years it might be a huge problem. My 1990 Ford Escort is only now developing a serious rust problem (getting visible from the outside). I would hate to drop $19K on a truck only to find in 3 years that the door is all rotted out. Any comments?

Also, is there a simple (cheap) fix at a body shop if you catch it early? Thanks for any help.

 

It's just where the moisture gathers on the inside of the door when the door is closed. I'd say that if you sanded down the rust and painted over it, that would take care of it. The best thing to do would be to remove the little black panel that is right there on the inside of the bottom of the door sill, put some spray-on or roll-on bedliner on it, that would be a good deal, too, I believe. Post this again in the body forums for better results!

 

My '99 doesn't have any door rust and it's been outside all of it's adult life.

You may be wise to get the VIN off the truck and run a CARFAX on it.

That is low miles on a '01 (26k). Hope it didn't come from the someplace that experienced flooding or other natural disasters.

 

2001 here with 33K... I have a couple of VERY tiny rust bubbles along the seam where the door metal folds under...

 

1998 with 79k - I have a little rust there, too...

 

How come all of you bought trucks that have been flooded?

 

My old 2000 F-150 Supercab developed rust on the inside bottom of all 4 doors and the inside bottom of the tailgate. The dealer fixed it under warranty and told me it was a common problem.

So far nothing has shown up on my 2003.

 

Both doors on my 2001 have rust in that seam on the bottom of the door. I sanded it down this past summer, put some rust converter on it and touched them up with some black paint.

As gross as this sounds, I have started to douse the underside of the truck with my old motor oil to control the rust. This past winter and this winter have been exceptionaly hard on the truck as our cities and state have dumped tons of excess salt on the roads.

 

There is a TSB on this but I cant remember the number.

 

Does anyone have any other information on this TSB? Or, where could I look to find more information on it?

 

Here you go!

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...or+bottom+rust

 

Thanks Norm!!!

I gathered that if the truck is still under warranty, then a Ford dealer should fix the rust problem for free. Is this correct?

If it is not under warranty, then I will have to pay to have it fixed myself. Does anyone know how much this would cost?

Thanks, you guys are really helpful.

 

I have the same problem on all my doors and tailgate. I figure it will take me about an hour per door and about 20-30 bucks for materials.
That's in Canuck bucks, so figure about $2.95US
My truck is a 99 and the dealership won't cover it because of the high mileage.

 

I should rephrase my question . . . How much would it cost me to have a body shop perform this work?

 

I asked a body shop and they quoted me around $400cdn and I near laughed in his face. I clicked on the tsb link in this thread and according to it, Ford should cover the job at no cost to you. I'll be talking to my local service manager on monday and will post the results.