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My 97 F150 has rust along the bottom of the drivers door. The truck only has 30k miles but it has been "in service" for more then 3 yrs. I just bought it ~ 6 weeks ago...I checked the entire truck over mechanically, but didn't really think to look for rust on a 3 year old truck! From reading some of the archives I see others have had this problem..has anyone had any luck getting Ford to replace/repair the doors (other then for the cracking)? Thanks...
Bob Watkins
97 F150 XLT 4x4 SC 5.4
My 97 light duty F250 is rusting too. If you open the door and look where the door skin wraps around an is welded on the bottom I have rust on all three doors. It is still under the paint now and hasn't worked it's way around to the outer skin. I was just going to try to fix it myself but if Ford will take care of it then maybe I'll talk to my dealer. If you look at your tailgate I bet you'll find it is "bubbling" too. Good Luck!!
Not that it stops your existing problem, but I firmly believe in the oil guard treatment. Up in Canada it costs $65 and a private business sprays the underside as well as inside doorskins and wheelwells. It drips and runs for about 3 days and isn't fun to clean up where you don't want to see it but there isn't a rust I know of that will beat oil! Any Zeibart dealer will have to agree with me here as well.
Yes, I bought mine around Mar 1998 with 24K on it. Manufactured in 96 but is a 97 Model. I had the passenger door rust underneath/inside along the seam fixed. Now I noticed the driver side door has the same problem. I have 56K on it.
I have a 97 and I talked to a sodablasting comp. and its not a problem to remove the rust. Sodablasting is not as hard on the metal as sandblasting. To do all 3 doors $100 CND. Then the paint repair is approx. $100.
I have the same problem with my 97’ I also notice the rust on the tailgate bottom inside. I have more than 36k miles, the first two dealers told me I was out of luck, one gave me a paper to fill out to complain to a Ford rep. I went to a 3rd dealer, he looked at the tail gate made a few calls, checked with his boss and decided to fix it. I left the tailgate with him and he called a few days later and said they were going to replace it with a new one. J
Ford is aware of the problems and have procedures in place to fix them along with the cracks in the doors caused by using the power windows.
Keep checking, let them be aware you know that Ford has recognized the problems. Also don’t call, stop in and show them the problem