Thats a Mk III car and it seems like they're designed to rust. They've got these like 4" round rubber plugs in the underbody. They rust around the edge and the plug falls out. Water gets into the carpet and accelerates the rust. I took some thin plastic and glued it over the holes on the inside with RTV. I've been keeping an eye on them and the holes don't seem to be getting larger. Unfortunately the rockers were already rusted out when I got the car, I welded a bunch back in but its getting so the rockers are all patch and no original metal. Consider the old computer cases I use for patches the patch material is stronger than the base metal but still... A friend and I have discussed transplanting a TDI engine into a Suzuki offroader. Whoever gets a Suzuki first gets to use the engine from my car. He thought he had one on the line recently so I started looking for replacements. Found a same-year Passat for $2200, looked mostly rust free, I should have gone and looked at it... -Curt
From: Kevin Kraly <kevinpadd...@gmail.com> To: "curtlud...@yahoo.com" <curtlud...@yahoo.com>; Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2016 3:56 PM Subject: Re: [MBZ] 98 Jetta new high Stop driving it! There's so much metal rusting away that it affected the fuel economy that much :). Seriously, congrats and attaboy!! Kevin in Hillsboro, OR Sent from my cellĀ > On Aug 28, 2016, at 10:36 AM, Curt Raymond via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > Lots of car discussion lately...The other day I refuelled the 98 Jetta and > calculated just over 54 mpg. It'd had a mix of city and highway over 2 or 3 > weeks. I've got the summer tires on and have been keeping close tabs on tire > pressure, running 40psi. The car rides hard anyway, the extra pressure > doesn't effect it much, it's got sport seats from a K2 Jetta... > It's been a good car but the tin worm is getting serious. I'm thinking one > more year and it's done. There's not much to weld to in the rockers anymore... > > Curt > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com