Jeep Wrangler Has A Galvanic Corrosion Problem

[00:00:00]Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome back to Rob's Rig. I came across something recently in my research for doing some of these videos I've been doing recently, you know, kind of searching things out on the web so that you don't have to, basically.

[00:00:15]And that is galvanic corrosion. I was unaware, but apparently Jeep, particularly the Wrangler, is known to have a galvanic corrosion problem. Now, if you're like me, you might be wondering what in the hell is galvanic corrosion? I mean, I had an idea, but I thought I'd give you the idea or the definition of that first, and then we're going to look around my Jeep Wrangler and see if I have any signs of galvanic corrosion. It says here, galvanic corrosion is an electrical is an electrochemical process that occurs when two different metals contact each other in the presence of an electrolyte like moisture or salt water. So, basically, if you have two metals that are touching that are sub subject to this, and it's raining, or you're maybe on a beach or something, you could have this happen.

[00:01:13]It says this contact causes one of the metals to corrode much faster than it normally would.

[00:01:20]And, interestingly, in just simply searching what the definition of this was, this came up next as part of this article, I guess. It is the exact chemical reaction that causes paint bubbling on modern Jeep Wranglers uh where aluminum body panels meet steel door hinges.

[00:01:42]This is so bad that even included in a general search, the Jeep Wrangler is mentioned. And I know there have been a lot of people that have talked about having corrosion problems around those door hinges. So, we're going to take take at mine. I'm going to start on the hood. We're going to walk around the whole thing and see if I have any evidence of galvanic corrosion.

[00:02:04]So, just looking around the edges right here, we'll start and this isn't even really contacting anything else, right?

[00:02:11]But, and some of this stuff is plastic.

[00:02:13]I'm not going to differentiate here, but obviously plastic is not going to have this problem.

[00:02:19]But, let's start on the hood, maybe in corners here.

[00:02:24]And particularly where these steel bolts uh secure the hinges. Now, I'm not seeing any bubbling or anything like that on mine there. Looking on down the edge, and I wouldn't expect any problems there. And right around the front, again, it's only contacting this rubber seal, so no problems there. There is a problem on the hood. I'll get to in just a minute. I noticed this earlier.

[00:02:51]On down the sides, up here where they have the steel bolts, this I think is aluminum. It could be plastic.

[00:02:59]Um but it does contact, obviously, the surface of what's painted here. Of course, again, the hinge over here, we've got steel, I assume, bolts that secure this hinge. I don't see any evidence of anything there.

[00:03:14]Over here on this hinge for the the windows, I'm not seeing anything.

[00:03:21]And let's go back over and check the other side.

[00:03:24]And by the way, for those that do loosen these up or take these off, I mean, you can completely remove the windshield if you wanted. Of course, when you stick the tool in here, you're going to scrape paint off and then probably have some rust. Same thing here, and of course on the hinges on the doors, which we'll get to in just a minute. But, I don't see any evidence of anything there. Now, I did, as I mentioned, find a problem on the hood.

[00:03:52]Up here in the corner, and you can see it right there, I think.

[00:03:57]See that little chip, and then a little bit of roughness right along the edge, kind of right along here?

[00:04:04]Uh we've got a chip. And that, I don't know that is a function of galvanic corrosion. It doesn't really contact anything else, but that's something that I'll need to touch up, otherwise it's going to get worse.

[00:04:16]Now, what about on the other side? Do we have the same thing?

[00:04:21]And no, I'm not. It's a nice smooth finish over there. So, well, actually, maybe up here.

[00:04:31]Let's see if the what that feels like. I feel a little roughness. So, not a great job on the painting on the hood. And that's too bad, because I've always been uh really positive about how Jeep paints their vehicles, but we have that problem. I don't know.

[00:04:46]Along the inner side here, where of course we've got metal contacting other metals, uh I don't see anything there.

[00:04:54]Strange how this screw is a different color.

[00:04:58]Same thing over here. Why wouldn't they just use the painted? I I don't know.

[00:05:03]>> [snorts] >> But, I don't see any other evidence along there. Now, let's get to these hinges. And this may only happen if you remove your doors, in other words, removing this pin, if you will. There is a tool that fits under there. Uh but, I'm not seeing any evidence of galvanic corrosion anywhere around the hinges there.

[00:05:26]Let's move on to the hinges in the back here.

[00:05:29]This That's just dirt.

[00:05:33]Nothing there, and I've never had the the doors off, so maybe that's why I'm not seeing anything. I do see this is a pretty common complaint.

[00:05:42]Check around the door edge, particularly on the corners. That seems to be >> [snorts] >> where some of the problems are, right on the edges.

[00:05:53]Not really seeing anything there.

[00:05:56]Let's check the back.

[00:05:58]Again, particularly right on the edge here.

[00:06:02]Not seeing anything there. That's good.

[00:06:04]No evidence of anything along here.

[00:06:09]How about on the hinges over here?

[00:06:13]Not seeing anything. Well, hold on a minute.

[00:06:18]What's going on right there? That looks like it might have actually been touched up already.

[00:06:24]I wonder if they did that at the factory. That looks like a touch-up.

[00:06:28]And [snorts] you see how it's smoother down here compared to this? That looks like a chip or a touch-up or maybe Yeah, that definitely looks like a touched-up chip.

[00:06:38]Nothing over there.

[00:06:40]And nothing down there. And then nothing along the hinge itself. So, that's cool.

[00:06:46]Let's move on to these hinges.

[00:06:50]And I don't see anything there. That's good.

[00:06:54]Up here in the front.

[00:06:56]No issues along here.

[00:07:00]Let's check out the door edges again, particularly after what we saw on the hood.

[00:07:07]And look at that. Right there is a little something.

[00:07:11]Might be poor welding, poor bending, I don't know, but I can feel it. That'd be an area I would touch up. Otherwise, it starts to bubble. Yeah, right there. That looks like a chip. I'll be damned.

[00:07:25]Got to go look at that other door on the other side. I didn't pull back the molding. Let's check here.

[00:07:32]Look at that.

[00:07:35]That one doesn't look It looks as bad, but it looks covered.

[00:07:40]Let's Let's back over to the driver's side door. I pulled back. I didn't pull back. I don't know why that seal.

[00:07:50]But, I wonder what it looks like underneath.

[00:07:53]All right, let's take a look.

[00:07:57]Oh, now see how nice and smooth that is?

[00:08:00]Look at that compared to the other sides we saw. This is nice and smooth, rounded, nicely painted corner. And this is how they all should look, right? Check that out.

[00:08:11]Don't feel a thing there.

[00:08:13]And one more time on this back door.

[00:08:16]Maybe I didn't look at that one close enough, either.

[00:08:21]That one's got a little point to it there where the metal was formed, I guess.

[00:08:26]But, it's nicely covered. It does look like a again a little point there, but could be something to watch. I don't know. And my fear of of those uh starting to come off is that it will go down over the edge where you can see it. You know, I'm not so It shouldn't be that way, but I'm not so concerned if I can't see it, but that's not good. And by the way, if you're looking for paint, uh you should be able to find your paint code uh right inside the door here. This right here. You see it says and I'm not sure which one it is, but it has paint PGE right there.

[00:09:06]So, I'm guessing that's the paint code uh for this Jeep.

[00:09:11]Doesn't really say otherwise. But, anyway, there's also Yeah, I think that's it. Um you can get some touch-up paint, of course, to touch up things like those corners if that concerns you.

[00:09:22]Uh it concerns me. I will be doing that.

[00:09:24]Anyway, just a quick look for any galvanic corrosion uh on the Jeep. I don't see anything, but I do see some paint problems. Leave a comment. Let me know if you've checked for this or were even aware of it. I'd be curious to know. Thanks for watching. Stay safe out there.

[00:09:40]Bye.