Hi,

During a heavy rain my A-pillars was soaking wet. It started to drip water all over me. (drivers side).
I searched the forum and found some old threads about a bad seal on the windsheild.
I decided to take of the plastic trim on the roof to check if I saw something.
Well, it was full of rust and it seems to even be a hole / crack in the hole chanel underneath the plastic trim.

Never seen so much rust in a place like this. Did someone else had an issue with this?
Passenger side is on the way also, but not not near the bad shape my driver side.




How should i proceed? What can have caused this?
Will the 12-year rust warranty help me? It's a 2008.
Other than this, no significant rust

 

I notice rust bubbling the paint in the places that should have been noticed without removing the plastic.

When's the last time you washed and dried the car!!!

 

The rust bubbles started to show a month ago and grew very fast, I already planned to fix it but did not know about the rust underneath.
I wash and dry it regularly. The paint is very well maintained.
Always professionally wax and ceramic coating jobs.
See rest of the car...

 

FYI...not sure about prices in your country but thats not an inexpensive repair given the location. Good luck

 

interesting; I wonder how that happened.
For the car to look THAT spectacular, it's odd!

 

That's what I also assume about repair cost.
I'm also wondering how this came up. Thanks. Unlucky I guess.
Other side is starting to rust aswell as I said. And no signs of damage or anything on that side eiter...

 

It is bad news indeed.

Replaced the windshield and the two metal plates that protrude from the roof to hold the windshield on the driver's and passenger's are both rusted. They buffed them, put some black treatment on it, and slapped the new windshield.

The car is otherwise without a dot of rust, but how to protect against design flaws where water leak thru pillars, possibly the sunroof, the door handles, and eat through invisibly for years? We take care of that car only for the manufacturing design to come us in the butt.

Acura wouldn't hear of it either. Didn't even replace my handles.

 

I agree!!

 

imteresting RL09! I didn't realize the RL had a sunroof. the drain lines could possibly run through that channel.
if the drain lines get clogged with debris, water will be forced to go somewhere.

 

That is a real shame - looks like it could be an expensive repair as the metal is badly rotted.

I wonder if it's been badly repaired & not re-masticed properly?

 

What do you mean you didn't know the RL had a sunroof?

Yea well I did 3 yrs ago pour hot water in there and it drained down behind the front wheels. Chances are 1st owner did not.

But I think water's leaking from elsewhere too, like through the edges of the molds.. The door handles are another example everyone has here.

Acura said should've reported it within warranty time.

 

I have rust at the exact same spot on my 06 RL... considering the age of the car, mileage, overall minor rust presence in other areas, etc I have decided for the cheapest fix which worked ok - cleaned it out as much as I could and added waterproofing silicone... yeah, it does not look brand new, nor do I care - it stopped the leak and it will keep going for next 2-3 years, which is what I plan to pull out of this car

 

 

If you can address it now, it is probably better to prevent any leaks. Reason is, leak continues and once it starts dripping inside the car, it is already at the point of having much more rust then before... perhaps some silicone glue or something else to prevent it

 

Update

Went to do the yearly service at the authorised Honda service place and was promised to send this matter to Honda HQ.
Honda HQ then told me to go to a place were they meassured the paint to see if it was repainted or damaged in the past.
Results showed that nothing is repainted where I have this rust, not on roof and not on the A-pillars.
Waiting for an answer from Honda HQ now if they will help me with this.
Hoping for the best.

 

Good luck... I had no much help from Acura regional in terms of getting my passenger door rust fixed.

 

Honda said no. Reason unclear. To be continued...

 

Seriously??? Honestly, you clearly have a well maintained vehicle.... Probably due to car's age?

 

Thank you projektvertx.

Warranty for rust is 12 years here, so its still not to old.
The message i got was very unclear and basically one sentence with a No warranty.
Maybe they checked something wrong or are confused. I bought the car in Germany from a Honda dealer and brought it to Sweden.
But maintanence has been done in authorised Honda dealer all the time.
Will answer them an email this week.
Will update again.

 

Usually rust perforation warrantys are 5 years from DOFU unlimited miles (US and CA). Surface corrosion is 4yr/50k miles or something very close. Where you may be getting caught up is between the perforation and surface rust designations. Nevertheless, I am really impressed if it shows somewhere that Acura/Honda warrants anything for 12yr unlimited miles across the ponds. If you have that in a warranty booklet and it is Acura/Honda backed thats your next step to send that detail to them. Thats going to be your best and only recourse to address their denial of coverage IMHO

Good luck.

 

Don't know if this thread helps at all:

https://www.civinfo.com/forum/genera...-12-years.html

 

The truth of the matter is, unless you've been spending big bucks at a dealer, he won't help. And Acura will just say no warranty no can do.

 

Honda says stamps are missing in the "corrosion protocoll" or what to call it.
This should be filled in with each service done by the dealer.
The previous dealer seem to have this forgotten in my book. (it is another chapter in the end of it)
The servicebook is fully filled in by a authorised Honda in Germany and last years in Sweden.
This is the reason Honda now says no.

Who is in fault? The Honda dealership that did not fill the protocoll correct or the client?
For me this is crazy.
Other than this there would be no problem (they say)

 

Wow, that sucks. So essentially you're SOL...

 

So after 8 months of dealing with this Honda takes responsibility of replacing the roof and fix the car.
Waiting for parts now. Apparently there are no Legendroofs available so it is going to be made.
Start the old roofmaking machines!

 

Is this rust on those rails the reason it is leaking inside?

Could you clarify the reason for the leak with some detail?

I am at a stage where the windshield store wants to remove and re-install my windshield they believe it's due to that.

Maybe with your info i can do some fix while they remove the windshield?

Thanks!

 

Hi,

Still hard to say exactly how water comes through but I say its the cracks and the rust as main reason.

Watch this video, hope it helps you too. Dont forget to watch the whole thing when I so some testing in the end.
Sunroof is 100% ok and not clogged.

 

BTW

I posted the servicebook back to Germany where they filled in the missing protocolls (They where made by the dealer but not documented in my book)
However with this I was able to give another try with reclaiming rust warranty.
As everything was done by the rules and the book they had to take it.

 

Thanks for the info.

I took out those plastic rails that run across the roof from front to back, I have zero rust there.. Actually there's some metal dust in there... is that since production or accumulating from some grinding somewhere?

I just have grey/silver metal powder.. and the roof under than trim is totally rust free. Yet, pillar leaks from the exact same location as yours.

 

My 09 leaked until I sealed the upper corners of the frame for the windshield. I think I used rtv.

 

I've also put a sealant temporarly around the windsheild and in the rails. Solved the issue for a while at least.