Ducato inner sill rot, is it structural?

[Ketvrin]

My 2004 series 244 Ducato PVC has tinworm in the inner sill on the offside ( and probably the nearside too). This is the inner sill that runs the full length between front and rear wheel arches which is welded to the bottom seam . It is made from very thin steel and appears to have rotted out from inside, probably due to water ingress not draining away while the van has been parked between trips.

 

There are several small holes ( after an aggressive clean with a wire brush wheel). So it obviously needs to be repaired before it gets any worse. My question is... Is this considered a structural section as far as an mot is concerned or not?

 

I cannot see a repair panel available on line for this model which would make a welding job relatively easy ( and so less expensive as I cannot do the welding myself).

 

All advice greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Kevin

[hallii]

Hi Kevin, I can and do weld and have repaired many sills on various vehicles. The repair panel is probably easy for a repairer to fabricate as the job progresses, so probably that's why a panel is not available ready made.

 

Also, when the rust and old panel is cut away the damage will be always be worse than it looks at first sight, what may appear to be sound metal may be wafer thin and unsuitable for welding. Choose the welder carefully, there are some "bodgers" out there who will hide a poor job with massive blobs of underseal. So tell them you will do the final underseal and then you can see that a proper job has been done.

 

Only the MOT tester can decide if it is structural, I have seen some extensive rust passed as not structural!

However I am confident that your sill will be a fail and also that the other side will need careful examination.

 

Why not let your favourive MOT tester take a look and offer some advice? It is a five minute job to have it up on the lift and take a look see, my man would probably not even charge to do this.

 

H

 

[malc d]

Ketvrin - 2016-07-24 7:15 PM

 

 

There are several small holes ( after an aggressive clean with a wire brush wheel). So it obviously needs to be repaired before it gets any worse. My question is... Is this considered a structural section as far as an mot is concerned or not?

 

All advice greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Kevin

 

Had the same problem with my 2003 Ducato.

 

One hole in the sill was about the size of a 50 pence piece and there was a lot of rust around so I was told it would fail MoT.

 

Had both sills checked and welded as necessary - and test was passed.

 

Can't remember what it cost now - about £150 I think ( ?????????? ).

 

( The bill included a service / Mot / plus welding repairs - so don't recall the breakdown of the charges ).

 

:-|

 

When I got it back I coated the sills with an underbody seal - although it did seem to me that the rust had come through from the inside.

[Ketvrin]

hallii - 2016-07-25 12:31 PM

 

Hi Kevin, I can and do weld and have repaired many sills on various vehicles. The repair panel is probably easy for a repairer to fabricate as the job progresses, so probably that's why a panel is not available ready made.

 

Also, when the rust and old panel is cut away the damage will be always be worse than it looks at first sight, what may appear to be sound metal may be wafer thin and unsuitable for welding. Choose the welder carefully, there are some "bodgers" out there who will hide a poor job with massive blobs of underseal. So tell them you will do the final underseal and then you can see that a proper job has been done.

 

Only the MOT tester can decide if it is structural, I have seen some extensive rust passed as not structural!

However I am confident that your sill will be a fail and also that the other side will need careful examination.

 

Why not let your favourive MOT tester take a look and offer some advice? It is a five minute job to have it up on the lift and take a look see, my man would probably not even charge to do this.

 

H

Thanks for that, yes I will take it to my regular mot place for his opinion ( which is the one thar counts I suppose) shame that he doesnt do welding repairs but hopefully he can put me onto someone who can. I will also ask to see what was cut out and do the underseal myself.

 

Thanks again

 

K ;-)

[Ketvrin]

malc d - 2016-07-25 2:05 PM

 

Ketvrin - 2016-07-24 7:15 PM

 

 

There are several small holes ( after an aggressive clean with a wire brush wheel). So it obviously needs to be repaired before it gets any worse. My question is... Is this considered a structural section as far as an mot is concerned or not?

 

All advice greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Kevin

 

Had the same problem with my 2003 Ducato.

 

One hole in the sill was about the size of a 50 pence piece and there was a lot of rust around so I was told it would fail MoT.

 

Had both sills checked and welded as necessary - and test was passed.

 

Can't remember what it cost now - about £150 I think ( ?????????? ).

 

( The bill included a service / Mot / plus welding repairs - so don't recall the breakdown of the charges ).

 

:-|

 

When I got it back I coated the sills with an underbody seal - although it did seem to me that the rust had come through from the inside.

 

Thanks malc, i hope my bill is as good as yours... Inwould happily pay 150 for this problem to go away.

 

K ;-)

[malc d]

Ketvrin - 2016-07-26 8:03 AM

 

 

Thanks malc, i hope my bill is as good as yours... Inwould happily pay 150 for this problem to go away.

 

K ;-)

 

 

 

Well my bill was certainly no more than £150 - but how much you will have to pay obviously depends on how bad the problem is - and who does the job.

 

Good luck anyway !

 

;-)