Well I got started on a project I've been meaning to do for a few years now.

My '96 has had an annoying problem for the last few years. I've had a reoccuring ant problem. That's right... ants. Ugh. They'd come from the lower door jams... right behind the front wheels. Some of them would get in the car, and I'd notice them from time to time. They're just black tree ants... so they don't bite, but still, it was annoying. Anyways, I knew they had a home behind the front quarter pannels on both sides... where the pannel meets the body and the door. Basically the rain washes any dirt/leaves off the windshield and it funnels down there (bad design). This creates enough material for the ants to get started. They of course bring in their own dirt to build it up. Anyways, I took both qt. pannels and door sills off today. I washed away a LOT of built up dirt and got rid of all the ants and one very nasty (and big) black female spider with a nice red spot on it's belly. Mean looking.

My motivation for doing this was partially because of the ants... but I've also been concerned about rust. I've been worried that the dirt would trap enough moisture to promote rust. Luckly all I had was a little surface rust around the bolt holes and weld seams. Not bad considering.


If you have any leaves visable I highly recommend you take your qt. pannels off and clean this area out. Heck, even if you don't have anything visable you probably have some dirt built up and it'd be good to clean it out.

Oooohhh.. black widow spiders suck!!

Originally posted by Yosho
...and one very nasty (and big) black female spider with a nice red spot on it's belly. Mean looking.



but its just a little spider;) like raserX said, good thing to get rid of that one!

Ants, and spiders?! ugh that sux, but is not too far out. Some of the shit that comes out of there from my car is not too far off. I know exactly what you mean. I always open the doors, and hose out in the door jams on my 200. Dirt leaves, and other crap all comes pouring out. This will cause rust. In fact on my recently acquired classic it has caused so much rust, as to take out the bottom of the fender. This is a terrible design, but it happens to alot of Sentras. Go figure?

Well I'm really glad I cleaned it out. It was really packed with dirt... I'd recommend this to anyone who plans on keeping their 200 for any length of time. It doesn't take much. Just an 8mm and 10mm socket, a 10mm wrench, and a phillips screw driver. Plan to spend the better part of the day doing this... it's not really hard work, just a lot of cleaning involved.

I picked up some automotive touch up paint and covered up the surface rust spots. I probably should of sanded the rust off, but didn't have the time.

My classic is bad. The previous owner's solution was to caulk it shut, and leave all the dirt. This sealed the whole compost heap in there to hold moisture, and generally catalyze things.
BTW,I just open the door, and shove the hose in the jam there to flush out all the stuff. The 200 has skirts there it keeps stuff out of the sill. The classic has the dirt in the door sill too, as it travels back.

Yeah, I've just washing it out in the past... but I never was able to get enough of it out to really make a difference. One of the things I've read that will keep ants away is chalk... and another is bayleaves.

I can't imagine caulking the door jam. That would be terrible (as you pointed out).

Luckly the 200 is constructed in such a way that the door sills are welded shut There is a running board/sill that you can take off, but behind that the metal is actually bottled up pretty well. So the ants/dirt didn't find there way farther back. They basically just collected in the fender well and that was it.

I'll have to check my mexican classic SE-R (the 2000 GSR in my sig) for these problems now...

Where exactly are you guys talking about. Anyone with a digi cam that can snap a photo? I don't want rust I can't see starting up! I know the side skirts hold alot of dirt.
Is it behind the fender liner...take off the wheel then the fender liner...is that where the dirt is?
Sorry thats rambled. I was just trying as I thought...lol.

Chrissy; Sorry I dont have a digi, or scanner. It's in the fender. In back of the front wheel. That space where the fender, and plastic fender liner meet. You don't need to remove the liner. Open up the door, and look into the fender in the bottom of the door jam. If you never cleaned this out it may be filled with stuff.

I took some pics of it after I cleaned it off, but before I covered up the rust. I'll post the pics once I get them developed... it could be a week though. I'm going on a trip here in a few days and I'm not sure if I'll get to it in time.

I think I might have cleaned that out a little when I had the liner off. I do remember it being pretty bad. I didn't do too good of a job either when I cleaned it out and I only did 1 side...lol.
Post your pics up when you get them done.

I'd be interested to see them too.