There is a reason.
The factory assembly welds on the corners of the trunk are either good or not good depending on if you have water
I will clean this up add anti-corrosion compound and silicone Messines up with clear as best I can.
Just thought I would share a few pictures of where this problem is actually at
Here's a couple more
A little dab up here along the top edges of the windows won't hurt either
I'll put a little dot of clear silicone in there
This will prevent water from running behind the window trim on the rear of the car and pick up anymore anticorrosion
I just noticed on my sons Thunderbird this welded up area is totally differently designed from the cougar
I never thought to say anything about this...figured it was just common knowledge already everyone was already cursing Ford for....but I have the same problem...I didn't want to permanently put sealer or anything on it...so I used to literally smear grease on those flat areas on the 20th, so it could be removed easily. It did work, after all rust was repaired I decided the car would never ever ever EVER see one drop of water on itself, for the rest of my life. I was so aggravated that these cars are so pr0ne to leakage like this. I notice literally cracking in...SOMETHING at the top of the driver's door jamb, above the corner of the weatherstripping. Always wondered what was happening to water slipping inside that tiny crevice. The black XR7 already has tons of seam sealer kinda-sorta-not-so neatly smeared in the trunk corners. No problem, I'll happily leave what has been done before me! LOL.
That car's windshield is not original, and leaks near the rearview mirror a little. So that car never sees rain or a hose either LOL.
I've been fixing that problem on my car since about 1999... Permanently fixed it when I rebuilt my car..
How will you wash it then?.... ;)
anyone with a bird here may not even know what we are talking about, the seam is designed differently,,, such that it appears like someone at ford said "oh yeah, we need to use this engineered seam for the trunks on birds, those cougars are going to have issues in a couple years but we can fix the birds so they dont have this problem"
glad im not the only one who has this problem.
if you dont know if you have this issue or not, lift up your turnk seal and inspect.
i added clear silicone and that should stop this issue for many years i would think.
I honestly believe this is the root cause for rusting out of the lower rear qtr panel just to the rear of your rear tires down low.
if you look at the path the water would have to take and puddle up, its obvious
you guys may have missed this post, this is exclusive to the passanger side only.....
daminic~ did you remember this mod or remember / notice to fix this ford error?
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?31787-where-the-water-flows-Rear-Fender-Well-Mod&highlight=fender+well
And I since 1987 LOL.
Rubberized undercoating from the underside helps quite a bit. Silicone's good from the top side (clear, so you don't have to paint). That should be about all that's needed to stop it.
See T-birds are better ;).
No, it's just that T-Birds have a different way to attach the structure at those points. You have other problems due to the rear window slope (rusting at the bottom corners of the window trim, for starters) so each car had a unique solution.
My first '84 was 3 years old in 1987 and I remember getting a few drips in the trunk underneath those seams. The service manager at the Ford dealership recommended the undercoating trick and that solved the issue completely. The car was never wrecked either, so there was nothing to break the seam. It was likely just the original body seam sealer that shrank from temperature cycles.
No, T-Birds are just better :p :hick:
[SIZE="1"]Except those beautiful convertibles. I just don't like the rear window.[/SIZE]
You know what's awesome?
(What's that, Eric?)
Being able to buy new headlights for my car, at any time I wish. :P
So can anyone else, for a price (only because people sit on new parts, like I've started doing :p ). There's always a NOS set out there somewhere, even if it takes a long time to find that box hiding away in some warehouse or attic.
I doubt we'll ever get standard sized headlight housings again. Add in the fact that society throws everything away now, people don't see the need to design things with long-term viability in mind.
The earlier T-Birds could do the same thing, so that isn't a benefit of the Cougar.
Now if only Ford would being back a REAL Thunderbird of some type. The latest T-Birds and Cougars were just upsetting.
In all honesty I think the 87-88 T-birds are the only ones that have no water leakage issue with the trunk. The 87-88 lack the lip that rusts on the 83-86 T-birds. I've yet to see rot around the trunk seal area on an 87-88 T-bird. I've actualy never seen it on an 87-88 Cougar either.
My trunk always seems to be damp, so it's not just a Cougar problem. Even when it's not raining, the cloth...cardboard...stuff seems to be damp to the touch. I'll have to take off the weatherstripping sometime and try to stop it from leaking. You guys don't want to see what the trunk sheet metal looks like underneath....it's bad.
I'm just messing with you, Seek. ;)
But it IS nice to buy off-the-shelf headlights at any parts store...heh.
The 1987-88 cars (both) do seem to be better with the trunk seams than the earlier cars. It's not just your imagination.
But I have had leakage issues on some of my old '88s. On one of them, I had to pull the body plug under the side spare tire well to let out all the water. Trunk leaked right at that seam seal. Silicone made it much better. I also got condensation under the trunk lid and the cardboard liner with that much moisture in the trunk. Eventually it stopped after the sealing.
It's a shoot...flip a coin. You'll be lucky or you won't LOL.
I don't. Keep it waxed + California duster = good to go lol
lol...I got one too...They're awesome
still dry as a pop corn fart!
update several months later,,
trunk is still dry so i am marking this as solved.
I was reading this and discovered that I had water in my trunk in the hole where the spare tire is.
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e167/teal9550/20131003_110531_zpsdf525edb.jpg) (http://s39.photobucket.com/user/teal9550/media/20131003_110531_zpsdf525edb.jpg.html)
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e167/teal9550/20131003_110522_zps949ee0a8.jpg) (http://s39.photobucket.com/user/teal9550/media/20131003_110522_zps949ee0a8.jpg.html)
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e167/teal9550/20131003_110515_zps47dfd036.jpg) (http://s39.photobucket.com/user/teal9550/media/20131003_110515_zps47dfd036.jpg.html) any ideas I don't see a trace of water anywhere
mix water with baking soda, pour it on then wait for a while.
look for the white trail and where is sources from.
good idea!
It's amazing that despite how "advanced" these cars were in design and features for their day...how archaic the manufacturing process still was. It makes me wonder if much has changed since then. Surely it depends on the manufacturer...maybe the luxury marque buyers really do have it better in that sense. I feel like I never see early 90s or even early '80s Mercedes Benz's or BMWs with any significant openly visible rust.
I was shocked when I saw all the water in the trunk
Teal, there should be a drain hole at the bottom of that spare tire well. If its plugged up, unplug it and leave it unplugged. That's a lot of water!
thanks ill check that out
I didn't see a drain plug anywhere so I drilled a small hole in the bottom primed and painted it and called it good
The drain plug is actually a rubber press in plug. It may have undercoating sprayed over it underneath. But, if the drilled hole is good....then that's good enough.
California duster and spray wax. Take a cream/paste wax to it once every 3 or 4 months. Last time my Mustang saw water to wash it was November of 2012. You can ask anyone who's seen it in person how clean it is. Heck, I wax my springs at least once a year.
At least I'm not the only one who cleans/waxes the under carriage on their car :hick:.