Rear Shelf rust

[french]

Hi all
can anyone give me a guide of whats invovled & the cost to fix this please.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Whats the car? SEC?

 

[french]

Sorry ,yes 500SEC

 

[Mudster]

The cause of this is flex in the shell (as a result of the pillarless design), this breaks the watertight seal around the rear screen.

Water pools up in the bottom corners and edges of the screen and makes it's way in through the broken seal....you often find a "blooming" of the rear screen itself.

Only cure is cut out, replace and new screen seals then garage the car to stop it happening again (it is after all a design problem).

There is a freely available outer repair rail for the bottom of the rear screen, available from your dealer for not a great deal of money. This is however only an outer skin.

The main structure of the rear shelf is a single part with the back of the rear seats and no longer available (out of production for some time now).

So you either source a good used rear shelf that's in a car being broken (think rocking horse poo) or get a bodyshop to fabricate something.

Or alternatively find someone who's selling a new old stock shell.....

Now as luck would have it I happen to be selling a brand new old stock shell....but that's probably a little bit of overkill just for the rear shelf...but you never know...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=260325111041

 

[french]

Thanks for that in depth reply ,very helpful.

 

[Howard]

I think you can buy the rear shelf panel , I'm almost positive that Navs had a new panel welded in when he did his SEC.

 

[langlands]

my 1990 Sec rear parcel shelf is fine, no sign of any rust, however below the rear window when I lift the rubber seal I have 3 small areas of rust , I do not want to leave this as it will only get worse, may I ask what is the best way of treating, I guess the window has to come out, I understand Mercedes do a repair panel for this.

 

[ianrandom]

Window in and out is about £100. Some welding may be needed, find a good friendly shop and do it sooner rather than later. You might even need the repair panel but if you catch it sooner it will be cheaper.
I just caught my SE in time and it was £300 all in.

 

[langlands]

rear window,

thank you Ian, very reasonable, I e-mailed jacksons in Poole re the repair piece and they quoted £70 for MB part plus vat, another source quoted £150 are their 2 different repair panels?, when window goes back would one be advised to fit new rubber? many thanks.

 

[GP801]

Have a chat with Car Glass Fitting | Old School Windscreens in Chertsey. They really know their stuff on old Mercs. The breakfast in the adjoining cafe is superb too!

 

[ianrandom]

It's probably different prices for the same panel.

Yeah new seal for sure - £80+ but essential, MB only for that too.

Hope it turns out to be minor for you.

 

[langlands]

500sec rear screen

just received one quote for removing rear interior, screen, welding in new panel, spraying and refitting all £1800 plus VAT, beyond my means being an elderly pensioner, I have checked the shelf from inside the boot and no rust shows, however when I lift the rubber seal I have signs of rust and a little flaky metal, any helpful ideas please, I am down in Chichester, West Sussex.

 

[219]

Sorry to hear that - this was one of the reasons I let my 500SEL go , my 280SE also had the same fault .

Despite what was written above , it is not just coupes which suffer from this problem , the saloons succumb to it as well . AIUI , it is a design flaw in the rear seal .

I also heard that new seals were no longer available from Mercedes , but perhaps a new batch has been produced ?

The repair panel was quoted to me at around £100 from my dealer - I cut a repair section out of a non rusty car in a breakers yard - I don't really know what it cost me as I got a whole lot of parts out of that car for £100 .

The young lad I gave the car to has stripped the car out and is doing the work himself .

If you are handy , you might be able to get a windscreen specialist to take your screen out , then perhaps working on it yourself you could clean up the metal around the aperture , apply rust treatment as required , then get the screen refitted with a new seal if you can get one ? If the rusty area is just along the bottom edge , you could probably mask off the bootlid and repaint that narrow strip with an aerosol - it may not match perfectly , but would be preferable to rust developing further . The dry months ahead are the time to do it .

I'd imagine it is the labour cost for the preparation and repair of the metalwork that accounts for most of the bill .

 

[John Jones Jr]

£1800 plus VAT, beyond my means being an elderly pensioner

Well, now you've got a figure to work against which is a good start. I'd say just shop around for few more quotes.

I have the same problem on my 190E, as Pontoneer said it's not an exclusive problem to SEC's as it's seal fault rather than a coupe design fault, so there's many body shops that have carried similar repairs on other Merc's over the years.

I'd advise strongly to get it done if at all possible before the onset of another winter, a year can makes a big difference to the repair that's required.

 

[langlands]

rear window 500SEC

thank you all for the advice, anyone know of really good coachbuilder in my area? Chichester, west Sussex

 

[GP801]

I have used AE Carcraft in Mannings Heath near Horsahm. Great quality of finish although if you looked at the workshop you would not give them a second chance. Last time I was there they were doing a complete restoration on a 70s Maserati. Rates are very reasonable too. Speak to Andy

 

[langlands]

500sec rear window>

any sec owners in my area who have had this work done, would be a great help,

 

[ianrandom]

Window in and out is about £100, you may be able to save what is there, especially if you can't see it from the boot. £1800 is a lot, mine is fairly bad, much worse than yours and it will be costing around £1000.