Now I've got water sloshing in the sills can't remember fix

[bangernom1cs]

HI,
I had a similar problem on my 98 D8 in October sorting out a huge dent where I'd rubbed a high kerb 6 years ago.
Anyway being a taxi, the council changed their regulations lately and whilst the car passed its mot, it failed its plating on the dented sill citing aesthetics.
This was roughly the entire length of the front passenger door and in by about 2 inches with the metal stretching inwards quite significantly.
So how did we do this job I'd been putting off for 6 years?
Fortunately the local taxi garage were stripping a 2001 Hdi for parts and the garage owner agreed to let me butcher the shell for my sill section (bodily better than mine but mechanically knackered).
I drilled out all the spotwelds along the top and bottom lips of the sill and got the grinder on the job using the holes for the rubber trim as positioning guides.
A good friend of mine who's a demon welder did the welding and I cut out the damaged metal and shaped the section to suit leaving the top of the original sill in place and using the repair section to be continously MIG seamwelded to the car.
A good grinding and skimming later and Halfords finest colourmatch left the car looking pretty good . Not perfect but good enough for the tester to be reminded where we'd done the job. Car is still working , 450k and a joy to drive
I took a load of pix and when I work out how to use photobucket, I'll put them on.

A WORD OF WARNING.

Having looked inside the sill of a 406, they do rust all along the bottom seam from the inside starting at each spot weld and contrrary to what we might get told , I saw NO wax in either one of the two cars we'd worked upon.
The culprits for this rusting are the rubber door seals along the top each sill. Water gets into the holes for each hog clip and the sills consequently fill with water and no drain holes either. Most of us cabbies hate these where the punters kick them off all of the time, thereby causing us to rip the buggers off in frustration and do without! This compounds the problem with the higher mileages we do ensuring that the inside of the sills get a good dosing of salt water each winter. Therefore we also had to do a small amount of plating in these areas.
The solution is to buy some new clips then pull off the rubber seals and get plenty of aerosol waxoyl into each hole before replacing the rubber with the new clips drilling a drain hole at the end of each sill. OR for cabbies, clean the lip of the sill where the holes are and duck tape them up carefully which works a treat if your car is a dark colour like mine is.
Youll just need to be aware that the door frame area will need cleaning a bit more often.

Tony

[steve_earwig]

My god, if I had access to a real 406 sill...

...when I work out how to use photobucket, I'll put them on.

Piece of cake - open account, upload pics (you can set photobucket so it resizes them to 640x420, which is the perfect size for forums), then the links come up when you put your mouse pointer over the thumbnails, you need the 2nd one down that says "Direct Link", copy that, then click the Img button on here and paste the Direct Link inbetween (can you tell I'm desperate to see how much better you did yours? )

Having looked inside the sill of a 406, they do rust all along the bottom seam from the inside starting at each spot weld

Which is odd as this bit on my sills was fine, no rust on this seam at all (and this is despite them being a bit mangled). Mine was all starting from the spot welds on the bottoms of the door pillars, which were disasters.

and contrrary to what we might get told , I saw NO wax

They're painted inside with something, or coated Anyone got a microscope?

...no drain holes either.

Just as I suspected, the only way for the water to get out (if at all) seems to be past the spot welds on the jacking points, where the outer sill isn't bent over on itself. Far from ideal.

The solution is to buy some new clips then pull off the rubber seals and get plenty of aerosol waxoyl into each hole before replacing the rubber with the new clips drilling a drain hole at the end of each sill.

I was thinking to use silicon mastic but that doesn't sound a bad idea.

[bangernom1cs]

HI,
I'll be doing the 'new' car later today as its an ideal opportunity with having had dry continuous weather for the last week or two here so no damp in the box section to start with. Its not a perfect solution to the problem but when the wax finds its level most of the bottom of the sill should benefit. It might put off the welding bill for a few years yet.
I also forgot to say that you can undo the front wheel arch liner's bottom screw for access to the fron sill section there.
REMEMBER though, go back a few days later to make sure the drain holes are free of wax as you might get more sloshing.
If you want to see rust...go over and join the Morris Marina forum (which I'm on) and check out some of the Herculeum efforts to cut out and stamp out rust and rot. NOT fo rthe faint hearted.!

T

[steve_earwig]

...no drain holes either.

...make sure the drain holes are free of wax...

That's me confused

[bangernom1cs]

HI,
Sorry, the drain holes that you drill!

However I 'think' that I read somewhere on here that there may be some around the jacking points?
I cant say I spotted them on mine...perhaps they were already clogged up anyway
T

[steve_earwig]

My theory:

...the only way for the water to get out (if at all) seems to be past the spot welds on the jacking points, where the outer sill isn't bent over on itself. Far from ideal.

On the D8 all the junk just seemed to blow/fall out along the front jacking point, I had a peer under the D9 and I couldn't see any form of opening at all

What size holes did you drill and where? It is the only way to guarantee that any water that gets in can come out again, I worry about weakening the structure around the jacking point but I suppose that's small beer compared to the jack going through the sill...

[Captain Jack]

All this talk about sills is making me want to look inside mine. How do I get access to them? Do I simply remove the wheel arches on each side?

[steve_earwig]

You can't see from the front 'cos the hole with a bung in it is tight against the inner sill but you can see from the back one - raise rear, remove wheels, remove arch liners (no swearing please ), there's a bung on the back of the sill - pull it out and have a peer with a small yet powerful torch.

[bangernom1cs]

HI,
I drilled 4mm holes just beyond each jacking point. I'll show how I'll do the next car shortly as I was due to do it on Sunday but ran out of time. I plan to do exactly the same and also look for the hidden bungs too...thanks!
Inside each sill there is a stiffener below each b post and a stiffener at each jacking point, effectively triple skinning
that area for strength when jacking.
On a previous 406 there was a sunroof leak which sent water down the B post coming out at the seatbelt now and again! This might explain why the sill had gone in the centre on another guys thread here where the metal to metal contact had occured around his stiffener area.













Hopefully this photobucket stuff appears!

Tony

[teamster1975]

All this talk of water sloshing around reminds me; I've got to put some silicon around the base of the spare wheel well!

[Captain Jack]

Tried to have a look inside the sill, but silly me didn't have a torch to hand (or rather tha batteries ). Seemed pretty solid on the outside though, but no drain holes visible.

[steve_earwig]

Another fine job there Tony. Did your man butt-weld it all the way round? Genius if he did (and I'm feeling a little ashamed of my Fiat Uno bodge )

Get in there CJ, my driver's side sounds solid too...

[bangernom1cs]

HI,
Yes m8 he did 'buttweld' it.
He's had years of practice restoring old Daimlers and Rollers.
I'm hoping to learn more from him soon.

T

[lofty]

The drain holes are there, but not in an easily visable conventional sense! Why do something normal eh Mr Peugeot?????

There are 2 tiny holes - no more than 3mm to the immediate rear of the (non folded over bit) jacking point area, mine were almost impossible to find and took a bit of force with a sharp small electrical screwdriver to unblock.

I'll try and grab a photo of mine (with the screwdriver in place) so you can see where i mean.

[anggie89]

i had an idea couple of days ago refering to your water in the sills and my problem with replacing the rusty sill and someone else has just had that problem too......

i think the water is getting in through those sill protector clips .....you know the ones that snap off easily just by catching it with your foot ....when i bought my 6 those plastic protectors were already missing and the remnants of the clips remain with rather a lot of holes into the sill area ..........my theory is when driving water is being driven int othis area and running into the holes and either rotting the sill and or filling it up with water........

any further ideas on this let me know lol

Hi, now I'm facing a same problem. Im sorry], but I can't really undestand where does this water come from? where is the water inlet? You said that it was form the protector clips, can you give me some information?