Nissan Leaf Rust and structural integrity.

Today I opened my 2014 Leaf's hood. I just happened to look down and noticed what looks to be rust on a metal portion of the structure. I don't know if it's the Frame, or a non-structurally integral piece. The rust is on a hefty metal piece, that underneath the Electric motor/electronics "stack". I'm not sure if this is the Frame or something else. But, why is there rust already? The Leaf even has a plastic underbody panel that covers the underbelly from contaminates (really intended for aerodynamics). I thought the car has been coated with an anti-rust coating. That's what everybody always says about new cars.

It's barely over a year old! It was manufactured in January of 2014, and shipped to a dealership (where it sat in their showroom) in Monroe Michigan where few people took interest.

The car had 37 miles on it when I drove it home in May of 2014. How can this be? It's only been through one Toledo Ohio winter and I wash it frequently.

I just can't believe this. And people told me "oh don't get it Ziebarted since its a waste of money these days, new cars don't need it". Yeah, apparently new cars do! I don't know what I should do. I had planned to buy this Leaf at the end of my lease in May 2017. I know the next gen Leaf is due out around then, but my cercumstances have now changed and I am at the point where i justI don't want to own my car again. I don't want to perpetually lease and pay out these payments every month forever.

I just want to buy this out and be done at 3-4 years after my lease is up. I had it in the plans to own this until the wheels fall off.

Basically, what should I do now? Is this rusting normal? Is this happening to other Leaf around the USA? Should I be worried or concerned?Should I try to sand the area and spray a can of undercoat to ward off future rust. Since it's technically a lease I don't know if I should. I called the dealer today and they said theres nothing they can do, ithat it's normal for large piece of metal to rust because its technically pair metal. My question would be, why didn't Nissan coat it, or protect it in some way?

I don't know, maybe I'm over reacting.

This has me a little upset. My first "New" car too.

If I could figure out how to upload pictures to this darn site, I'd put some up. I took a few.

It is probably just surface rust on a piece that either wasn't properly coated or got exposed to salty slush that sat on it and ate the coating. You can upload photos to a site like Photobucket and then link them here as explained there. The best way is to either make the pics reasonably sized, or use thumbnail links, so loading the page isn't slow for those of us with DSL or dialup.

Here is what I'm talking about. I know I live in Toledo OH, but come on. It was a brand new car. I took care to wash it once a week all winter long, with occasional lapses. Are other Leafs going to do the same?

Does this rule out buying it or is nothing to worry about?

I actually have the same Leaf as you, with Brilliant Silver. The Only difference is mine is a 14' with Quick Charge port. Is yours aging the same? Have you bought your Leaf or planning on it? Does this concern you it?

On the first picture I've outlined the area of concern.


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Yeah, that's surface rust. I don't *think* mine has anywhere near that much, but I haven't looked at the motor stack area lately. I will today. It occurs to me that you may have inadvertently made the problem worse, by washing it often: the pressure of the water can loosen the anti-rust coatings, and even paint, accelerating the process. Nissan is known for how well they *don't* apply their paint, skimping on it and not doing a great job with what is applied, so this may be another issue related to that.

I can't afford to buy mine; I got a great lease ($149 a month, now $159 after tax is added to the extension) and plan on extending it as long as I can, though. The nice thing about leases is you can drive a car you could never buy, like mine, or my housemate's Prius PHEV. The downside is you'd better not get really attached to it, as it will be gone in less than 5 years. If I'm still around when the car has to be turned in, I'll try to lease another Leaf, but it will likely be either an S, or possibly even a Smart ED, I'll be driving.

I gotta agree - that looks like superficial surface rust and I wouldn't worry about it. maybe it just didn't get painted properly. If it's made of steel, it's going to rust. I had a little zx2 a few years ago that I converted to electric. It was EXTREMELY clean and rust free except for two pieces on the undercarriage that were covered in surface rust. Same two pieces, one on each side of the car. Can only imagine someone forgot to paint or rust coat something properly when it was originally built.

I just looked at mine, and there is a little surface rust, but less than the OP's car. I think my original guess is correct: washing too frequently isn't good for Nissan paint. I wash my motor compartment two or three times a year, and avoid blasting surfaces with the full pressure of the car wash hose nozzle, instead holding it back about 6-8'. I suggest using a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle, set to a gentle spray. If the OP bought the car, I suggest finding out exactly what was used to paint and/or coat that area, and sand and re-do it, using better materials and labor than Nissan. If it's leased, then either ignore it or gently wire brush and repaint it, touch-up style.

I just looked at the area again today. I wiped my finger across it.

A lot of it was dust. I did just have it hauled back from California. I forgot all about that it might be that. I never actually wash inside the "engine " bay, so it makes sense that it's still left over.

It was on an open carrier semi truck. They probably went through dusty states like Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona of course. That would explain why I thought it was rust, those states have redish colored dirt.

I will try to take a picture of the area soon. I'm going to use my garden hose to hose it all down under there.

Ok, I washed it all down and the salt didn't come off of the metal cover with the Nissan logo on it. It probably didn't come off because I didn't use soap, only water from the Spray nozzle on our garden hose.
But, I sprayed down the entire engine bay area to up the dirt.

I drove it on the expressway after I hosed it down, hoping most of the water would run out. It's still quite wet in there.

Unfortunately, there does actually seem to be some rust spots on that black metal piece way down there. There was a lot of dirt but still some rust was there. Like spots of rust.

Its also entirely possible that this was there when I got the car, as it was the dealerships showroom model.

They drove it 37 Miles sometime before I bought the car. It had to have been between it's manufactured date (January 2014) and May 2014 when I got it.

They said it stayed in the showroom mostly the whole time. I believe it probably did, but I just can't believe surface rust can form that quickly. I got the car in May, and only drove it through last Winter.

So it's been through 2 winters technically. The dealer has already told me that it's considered "wear and tear". If the exterior were rusting out already, they'd address it, but surface rust doesn't count to them.

Is this something to be alarmed by? I was planning on buying it at the end of the lease in 2017.

Is this rust going to eat the car or do you think it'll be mostly confined to that metal shield piece (I'm not sure what to call it)?

My old car before this was a 1995 Oldsmobile 88 that was completely rust covered underneath, but the exterior was rust-free. You wouldn't even had known about the rust if you hadn't put it on a lift.
That car is still running strong today, my friend sees it occasionally.



Would Ziebart have prevented this?
I don't know if Ziebart coats inside the engine bay. I don't even know if you can Ziebart a Leaf (or should).

All-in-all I would still like to buy this car I think. Should this rust stop me, is my big question?

Or am I just freaking out way to much about this? [/url]/img]

That rust won't eat the car, and "rust-proofing" wouldn't have prevented it - just hidden it, or at best delayed it a while. I suggest you lightly wire brush it, sand, then prime and paint with a good black rust-resistant black paint.

I bought a new Chinese-built XM-3000 electric scooter years ago. It was new in the crate, but the salt *air* on the cargo ship had caused quite a bit of surface rust. It doesn't take much to cause rust on a poorly-finished mild steel surface.

I'd like to do what you've suggested but the space is so tight that I can barely get my hand down there with my phone to take a picture, let alone maneuver a wire brush and all that. Because its all the way down at the bottom, my arm barely reaches it as well.

Also, I don't think I can clean it up since its a technically a Leased vehicle. Once my lease is up and I start officially making payments under financing to own it I guess I could.

If for some reason I would have to return the car or would lose it, I'd get socked with "Damages" I suppose.

Would shooting it with WD40 at least keep it at bay?

Its crazy how fast rust can take hold.

I think you are worrying way too much about a little rust on an internal support piece.

The car OEMS have mostly went to dip coating of the external shell and parts of the unibody that is amazingly good at eliminating rust for two decades or more.

But I don't think everything is done that way.

Traditional painting has huge problems.
Rust can form very quickly with very little damage of the paint.
A local manufacturer of extremely large towing and recovery equipment struggles with this on their military equipment.
Using some of the best specialized paint in the world but have problems.

At some point maybe everything on the vehicle will be dipped for two decades rust free.
But I don't think that is currently the case.

If the area is out of sight, clean it as best you can and dry thoroughly.
Then use a two part epoxy mastic.
You mix the two parts, and it is expensive like $50 a gallon, but you can coat slightly rusted metal with it and it will last over ten years.

Haha, yeah I don't know if I have the knowhow to do all that. Like I said, it's on the black metal piece at the very bottom of the engine bay. Unfortunately I am short and also have short arms. I can barely reach my hand all the way down to the metal. I don't know how I could maneuver a wire-brush or something to clean it up (I'd like to if I could). I am a novice at things like that, that's why I got the Leaf. I was tired of all the darn upkeep.

But, I understand what you are saying. I think I may just be blowing this up to a bigger deal than it is. If heavy equipment (like you said) experiences this kind of problem, I'm in the norm.

I guess I'll just keep driving it.

LeftieBiker said:

I just looked at mine, and there is a little surface rust, but less than the OP's car. I think my original guess is correct: washing too frequently isn't good for Nissan paint. I wash my motor compartment two or three times a year, and avoid blasting surfaces with the full pressure of the car wash hose nozzle, instead holding it back about 6-8'. I suggest using a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle, set to a gentle spray. If the OP bought the car, I suggest finding out exactly what was used to paint and/or coat that area, and sand and re-do it, using better materials and labor than Nissan. If it's leased, then either ignore it or gently wire brush and repaint it, touch-up style.

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I'd like to make it clear though, that I never actually washed the engine bay. I've only ever taken it through those Touch-less automated car washes. You pull into a garage and the sprayer is on a rail and circles around 360 degrees above the car to wash the car with soap and water (there's also an undercarriage spray alongside the tires to wash underneath). In Winter I always swing by there once a week (to wash the salt and brine off), and in Summer sporadically. But, I've never use a power-sprayed to wash out the engine bay or anything.

So that's why I can't imagine why rust would've taken hold already. Now I kinda wish I would've gone to Ziebart to have Rust-Proofing done.

Sorry about the misunderstanding. Are you sure that Ziebart includes the inside of the engine bay in their coverage?

I'm sure that there's some form of corrosion warranty. If you're worried, why not take it into a dealer? Ask if it's covered, and to see if any of the covered parts are showing rust.