My Navigator is always garaged so it is parked level. I agree that water can get into the inside of the door and it is supposed to drain out through the drain holes. Whether corrosion occurs in the seams will depend on many factors such as how well the seam is put together and the degree of corrosion protection used by the automaker. Also seam sealer is used on many vehicles I would assume to also protect the folded lip of the seam from being penetrated by water. I suspect the quality of the paint adhesion also plays a role.

My second car is a 1998 Infiniti Q45 7 Years old and driven in the same type of conditions and parked similarly. The seams are perfect on this vehicle.

My view is that the problem is a combination of materials and workmanship as there is no way that it can be acceptable in 2005 for a vehicle like this to suffer significant corrosion before it is 3 years old. The corrosion is very evident and is seen as bubbling of the paint up to half an inch above the bottom of the bottom edge of the doors and tailgate.

I don't think you would find this on any Toyota Land Cruisers or Lexus equivalents.

I am sure Lincoln / Ford will try to point out that this is not perforation damage and hence is not covered by the warranty, but my counter will be that the corrosion is evidence of a major failure of materials and process of application. I obviously need to wait for their official response because maybe they will do the right thing and repair it, but you can probably sense my frustration. This was one prolblem I did not expect to have to deal with at this stage of ownership

 

I think you're right Geo, the doors are curved down into the body at the bottom. The water cannot drain out the holes which aren't at the doors lowest point. It has no where to go, but to sit there until it either sloshes out or evaporates. This problem seems to be a design flaw in the door's geometry, and unfortunately no matter what you do, you'll prolong the rust's devistation at best. I scraped the rust off mine today and sprayed Extend rust converter over it and in through the drain holes, but I'm not expecting much of this fix.

 

I noticed some rust starting to form on the bottom inside door lips. ( All 4 doors) I took mine to Ziebart and they applied some chemicals to stop the rust in its tracks and then they applied a sealer to keep the rust from coming back. Doors and under carriage. All together $200. Mine is a 1998 Expedition XLT. I would assume the road salt that is used here has something to do with it.

 

Freak4Ford, how long ago did you have yours done, and is there any sign of it coming back?

 

My father's 2000 f150 is rusting at the bottom seams of his door, he is not top happy, only 40k miles... My 2001 Expi XLT is plastic at the bottom of the doors, arent they all? i dont even have metal showing at all, its all plastic down there...are they all like that after 2001??

 

DOes any of you guys have pic of rust problems you have?

 

MCN420 I noticed it about a little over a year ago. I have not noticed any new rust since.

 

Freak4Ford- Excellent, I'm going to look into that!

Do you know if they took the door panels off to coat the inside of them?

 

I just got my o4 back from the body shop due to paint blistering at the bottom of the rear window at no charge to me.

 

They did not remove the doors. They drilled holes in areas that they needed access to and plugged them when they finished.

 

There is a TSB about fixing this problem, but I don't have the number. I did read it here on this board somewhere. I believe somewhere in the post it stated the manufacturer used a new type of seam sealer, and that this sealer actually absorbed and held moisture. This sealer being sandwiched between the metal door panels is contributing to the rust, if not causing it. If it continually gets remoisten after a rain, rust. I also have this problem with my 1999 Expedition doors, especially the front passenger door.

 

Finally got the dealership to look at my 2003 Navigator and the corrosion problem on the 4 doors and tail gate. Surprise, surprise the service manager concluded that it was not covered by the warranty because it is not perforation damage.

I politely pointed out that this was completly unacceptable on a less than 3 year old vehicle with an MRSP of $60,000 and that I wanted to complain to whoever necessary. The response was that they will get the Ford rep into the dealership next week to take a look.

 

Da*n ultimatenavi, although like you implied, their response was not unexpected. Keep us posted and fight a good fight!

 

After weeks of waiting we finally got a Ford Engineer to inspect our 2003 Navigator (48,000 miles) which has corrosion in all 4 door seams and the tailgate.

His first reaction was that it was not covered by the corrosion warranty and pointed out that we live in an area where salt was used in winter.

After pointing out that this was completely unacceptable on a $60,000 vehicle and much back and forth argument, he finally agreed as a courtesy to repair the damage. The next stage is for us to take it to the body shop that the Lincoln Dealer uses and schedule an appointment for the work to be done. They need the car for 2 days.

Next question is how thorough will be the repair and are there any guidlines for dooing this type of work

 

Congratulations Ultimate Navi!! At least your vehicle will be repaired at no additional cost to you. I would doubt that the fix will stop your rust forever. The body shop manager told me that the rust will come back. That is what happened to her 1997 Xpe before she worked for Ford. They fixed it once and wrote her a lifetime warranty on it (which they later regretted) b/c the rust came back, but luckily for them she traded it on a new Xpe that they gave her a really good deal on.