Water in the chassis rails. !

[Paul99]

During a recent inspection by the local garage he noticed that in the past my car has had a lot of bodywork, new floor panels and sills.  They are in great shape but he noticed a lack of "drain holes" .  He was suggesting there should be water drain holes to allow any rain water out.

As a check I drilled two small holes in each of the the main chassis members that runs along the car from front to rear and found one side had around 1 pint of water in it!  It was clear water not rusty water which was strange.

Not sure if there should be drain holes anywhere in the sills etc in case rain water collects.  Is the chassis one section? IE could rain water flow from the sills to the main chassis members?

Anyone heard of such a thing?

Any light on the subject would be great.  I will wax-oil via the holes i drilled and fill them but wondered if there should be some drain holes somewhere ?

[mbzse]

.../...Not sure if there should be drain holes anywhere in the sills etc in case rain water collects.../...

From factory there were a large number of drain holes in chassis and other parts of the body. It happens these drains get clogged by underbody protection, dirt or rust. Very bad; water trapped inside chassis structure can kill a car by corrosion from the inside.

A good thing is to make sure the drains on your SL remain open. Do this with a pin or thin screw driver from below every now and then.

Some info here, try search function for more: https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=375.msg39715#msg39715
/Hans S

[wwheeler]

Paul, what model and year do you have?

[Paul99]

Hi Wallace,  its a 1966 230 UK car.   I don't seem to have the drain tubes shown in the photos above, not sure if the early cars had them? But I will add some drain holes where they are missing.  I didn't realise there were so (supposed to be) many on the car !

My car was a one lady owner from new in 1966 - she kept it in London until we (my son and I) bought it in 2011.  She had extensive work done over the years including a new floor and sills around 15 years ago.   Its done 120k miles now. 

There doesn't seem to be any real rot in the car now, but our weather doesn't help.  The car will be put away now until the spring because I don't like to use it in the winter wet months.

Thanks for the advice as usual guys.  Learning all the time about these great cars.

[wwheeler]

Yes, many drain holes. Since this was posted in the W11X area, I thought you may have a coupe, cab or sedan. You could also go to Motoring Investments and look at their many detailed pictures of the underside and find drain holes.

Good luck.

[rutger kohler]

Hi Wallace, have you got any details on drain holes for a w108 plse?

[wwheeler]

Hi Rutger,

I do not have any detailed pictures and cannot lift my car at the moment to get good pics. Let me crawl under there and I can give you a verbal description. I have a W111 BTW, but not sure there is much difference.

Wallace

[wwheeler]

Here is what I found on the rocker panel. There two 6mm holes per side on the "floor" of the rocker panel and each one coincides with the jack posts. So one hole in line where the jack post is. There is also a vertical slot about 10mm long at the very end of the rocker panel where it butts up to the rear wheel house. The slot is formed by two panels that don't quite meet flush. Both sides have this and seems intentional.

I hope that helps.

[rutger kohler]

Hi Wallace, thanks for that.  Will get under my w108 and have look, I'm betting it will be the same as your car. I have had the splash guards off behind the front wheels and a hose which comes down from further up had blocked off.  Also I have cleared the gaps that drain water down from where the front fender meets the firewall.

[wwheeler]

Yes, usually a mess behind those shields. I too have cleaned mine out. W108s have the cowl drain behind the shields. But the W111 has a shorter cowl and the drains are in the engine bay on the firewall and are the odd shaped balls. Some differences, but not many.

Have fun.