[AT] Interior cavity oil was Big Truck Pickups

[James Peck]

You want the oil inside the doors so the hem at the bottom that holds the outer and inner skins together on the doors doesn’t rust apart. Spraying the underside does not get the oil where it needs to go.

I worked in door, hood, and deck lid assembly for a while, mostly on the minivan. Besides inner and outer skins, tapping plates for the hinges and latches got welded in. Chrysler actually had hemmer presses that bent the outer skins over the inner along with a bead of sealant. If you can keep oil in that lower hem joint your doors will hold together. They do not usually spot weld through an outer skin. Same thing at the bottom of the deck lid. You can oil the lower joint on doors by removing the inner trim panel. You can also brush the oil a few inches up each side of the door. You might have to drill small homes to squirt oil into the cavities on either side of the door and you probably can't get your hands  in there. The auto parts store has little plugs.

Dripping oil onto the pavement is likely a ticketable offense. I might try a cheapy paint brush to brush oil on the bottom side, thin enough it does not drip. A little oil on the emergency brake cable where it goes into the conduit might keep that working.

Francis Robinson aka "farmer" Central Indiana USA AT List Member (robinson46176 at gmail.com); Tom McCahill who wrote for Mechanix Illustrated more than once wrote of the common practice in Florida, where he was living, of spraying their cars all over underneath with used motor oil. I recall thinking at the time (early to mid-1950's) that I would think that mechanics would really hate working on those slimy under-pinnings. Normal leaking oil was bad enough.

James AT List Member (jamesgpeck at hotmail.com);   Years ago I had a publication that advocated coating the interiors of the bottom of doors and any other lower water holding joint with used motor oil. I did try it on one car and it seemed to work.