G.T. Fieros

So it seemed to have at the very least let up, but now it's worse than ever. Every time it rains, my car is leaving a nasty trail of rust all the way down the driveway. I'm unfortunately thinking it must be coming from my upper frame rails because from the engine bay or under the car everything looks fine. It appears to be originating directly below the battery. Any comments/words of wisdom?



I moved the car directly up so you can see the line of where it's coming from

Common problem unfortunately access to the area for repairs is not easy. I would remove the lower body panel at that point and see how bad it is because it did not look bad from the engine bay side

yes, common under battery tray, very acidic area...a lot of people have had them replaced because of this....mine luckily is still holding up

That does look like a trail of battery acid and rust. It looks like you'll have to pull the battery and some insulation out of the way to see the cause. Perhaps the inner wheel well too. I have a rear section that I cut off another car and I might be able to salvage some good metal from it for you. If not, you still have a few options. If you're ambitious, I know of a rust-free space frame (84-87) laying around not being used. If you're thinking of a "winter project", PM and I'll check out your dilemma. I'll offer you some laser cut parts for your repair.

...and that's why most Fiero people are the best car enthusiasts around. kudos!

There was some rust on the battery tray, but not enough to leave this kind of carnage. Unfortunately I'm almost certain that it's coming from the frame rail. At some point in time it was cut open to get at the top bolt for the cradle. About a year ago I noticed the cut and a bit of rust so I sprayed it with some Tremclad thinking that would be a good thing. It actually made it worse, it was right after I did that the rust starting appearing on the driveway. I'm probably just going to drive it until September and then start pulling body panels off. I sure would be interested in either the space frame or at the very least some parts cut to replace the rusty bits.... Thanks!

I's say that's too much yellow for rust, I would be more inclined to think it's battery acid too. What's you volt meter saying when the car is running? 13.4-14.4 is average, you go over that and you start over charging your battery. The acid will bleed out on the tray and lower rail. When it's start raining, it mixed with the water and gets washed away.

I replaced the battery just a few weeks back because it was leaking and had eaten up a bit of the tray, but Dan cleaned that up for me. Pretty sure the alt on the old engine was overcharging the battery because it wasn't even a year old. Just after I replaced the battery the engine blew, so it kinda fell off my radar. Will have to check tomorrow to see how it looks as far as charging goes.