Nissan Micra 1.0 1993 Front Chassis Rust

Honest John Back Room » The Back Room Archive
View Threaded
Sat 18 Aug 2001 13:19
Nissan Micra 1.0 1993 Front Chassis Rust - Gerald Adye
Is it a common fault in the early Micra to have the front chassis cross-member fail due to rust? It is the metal strut below and in front of the radiator. The rust results in MOT failure and cost £208 to replace the part, most of it going on taking off other bits and putting them back on. The part itself was only about £55. Any point in asking Nissan to contribute?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 18 Aug 2001 14:04
Re: Nissan Micra 1.0 1993 Front Chassis Rust - honest john
Hadn't heard of this before, but have added to car by car breakdown. Nissan is unlikely to contribute because at 8 years old the car is out of its 7 year design life.

HJ
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 18 Aug 2001 15:51
Accident repair? - David Lacey
You have to ask the question - has the car had an accident repair to this panel in its earlier life? Poor rustproofing or no cavity was applied could turn this part into a rust trap.

Rgds

David
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 18 Aug 2001 19:50
Poor factory rustproofing. - David Woollard
I look after an otherwise superb Micra of this age with a genuine 30,000 miles. At each MOT the tester and I comment that the wax/underseal gun was moved very quickly across the bottom of this car, huge areas are missed and starting seam rust.

David
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 18 Aug 2001 20:42
Re: Poor factory rustproofing. - steve paterson
About a year ago I had to fit towbars to three new Renault 'people carriers'. Can't remember the model but they were all the same. To fit the bar, blanking plugs have to be removed from the ends of both front to rear 'chassis' members. On each car at least a cupful of water ran out of each member when the plug was removed. I suppose it had gathered during outside storage. It made me wonder about corrosion problems when the car is with it's 2nd or 3rd owner and the anti-perforation warranty has expired.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 19 Aug 2001 20:13
Re: Poor factory rustproofing. - RichardM
David Woollard wrote:
>
> I look after an otherwise superb Micra of this age with a
> genuine 30,000 miles. At each MOT the tester and I comment
> that the wax/underseal gun was moved very quickly across the
> bottom of this car, huge areas are missed and starting seam
> rust.
>

That's true enough with these - mine (a '95) had no underseal and looking at newer ones I see they don't either. I recently gave mine a healthy dose of Hammerite Underbody seal AND a spraying of Waxoyl, to be on the safe side. I should say though that there was no rust evident anywhere, but had I not done this then the story might well be different in a year or two...

Unfortunately I have seen this 'forgetting' to underseal is a common feature on many other new cars. I can only assume that the manufacturers want their cars to last no more than about seven years.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide