One place my van is rusting which surprised me is the rear hatch.
On the very top inside edge, above the seal but below the part exposed to
the elements.

I think what causes this problem is leaf accumulation.
The leaves rot and break down, releasing tannic acid, which attacks the
paint.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of JordanVw@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2000 8:16 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: READ!! your van is rusting and you dont even know it!!!.....
>
>
> for those of you with '88 up vans w/ the fiberglass bumpers (and
> '87 wolfys
> too) take a flashlight and take a peek behind the rear bumper end
> caps, from
> above or below (between the body and the bumper end cap).. what do you see
> back there?  odds are you got bad seam rust eating away at your rear
> quarterpanels and you dont even know it... go look..you may be be
> suprised..
>   this can also be said for the drivers side rocker panel seam,
> hidden by the
> fiberglass rocker moulding... out of sight, out of mind..  what
> you dont see,
> CAN hurt you (or rather your van).
>
> Also, another thing everyone should do, is take a look under each
> rear corner
> of your van.. where the battery boxes would be if it were a bus..
> you'll see
> an embossed X in the metal. above this panel, is where water that
> enters thru
> the rear air scoops collects, and sits...and thats where that
> horizontal seam
> is..  water sits in there everytime it rains or you wash your
> van, and eats
> out the seam, and starts to rust out from the inside..
>
> on the aircooled buses and vanagons there is a little drain hole at the
> center of the X. this allows rainwater trapped above this panel to drain
> out..   For some reason, in '83 VW stopped drilling a drain hole
> there...why?
>  who knows.   Anyway, it would be to everyone's advantage to drill a small
> drain hole at the center of the X to alleviate standing water above that
> panel...
> just a friendly tip to make your van last longer...
>
> chris
>