L300 Crystal Lite manual shades? Or non working power shades?

Furi · Post by **Furi** » Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:35 pm

Hey all...

I am taking off the headliner and a whole of stuff to treat the rust from inside and just seeing the mechanism for how the power shades work.

Was wondering if anyone has manual shades on their crystal lite? Does such a thing even exist or were they all power shades?

Does anyone have non functioning power shades? Either on or off their car.

And in case you haven't seen whats up there.... [IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201907 ... b69d78.jpg[/IMG][IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201907 ... c0219b.jpg[/IMG]

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philmeup1 · Post by **philmeup1** » Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:12 pm

Hello Furi,

I don't believe there was a manual option for the power shades. And from what I understand, it's an extremely complicated set up to service. I have rust on my roof (that started from the inside). One of my shades no longer functions (stuck open), and the others work about 90% of the time.

I've seen a few posts on here from others that have attempted the rust repair as well as fixing the shades to work as they should, but it looks far too daunting for me to tackle this job. I've considered spraying the roof with that Rhino Truck Bed Lining in an attempt to keep the rust at bay. I know it's not the correct way to fix this problem, but my lack of mechanical ability has got me thinking this might just work.

Anyway, good luck with the repair. Take lots of pictures as you go along. It may help you when trying to put everything back together.

Cheers, Phil

Furi · Post by **Furi** » Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:48 pm

Hey Phil,
Thanks for the info.

Thats pretty much what I did for the rust spots on the roof. I also use a rust treatment before applying the bedliner. There are many types but the solutions are mostly phosphoric acid that turns iron oxide (rust) to iron phosphate; a hard black material that could be sanded, painted over, etc. And it prevents the rust from spreading. Good stuff for a lot of applications actually if you haven't used them before. Done plenty of research on this stuff so if you want recommendations let me know.

But as the continued conversion to a camper I wanted to take the headliner out to create extra head room so treating the rust from inside made more sense as a more permanent solution. Actually seeing where the rusts are starting from now that the headliner is out. Based on my experience up to now it just seems like a time consuming process; probably 3 days to take stuff off, treat the rust, and put everything back. Only thing I broke were the 4 clips/screws that attached the overhead light :)

philmeup1 · Post by **philmeup1** » Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:13 pm

Man, you are on top of this stuff Furi!!

Do you mind sending me more info on the truck bed liner idea? Is this stuff you can purchase over the counter at like a Crappy Tire or something? I was going to go to Rhino Truck Bed Liners here in Ontario, but I was told it's quite expensive and I don't think they would be keen to do the rusted roof of a 1993 Delica.

I'm happy to take the job on myself if I can with the right materials. The finish doesn't have to be perfect as it the roof is up so high. I just want to keep the rust at bay.

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers, Phil

Furi · Post by **Furi** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:38 pm

Sorry for the late reply. I visited a few places in US to get an estimate and it was somewhere around 600-1000 USD. It didn't make sense to me since the rust is from inside and its going to come back up again anyway. I am down in Seattle, but I picked up a few cans of the bedliner material when I was up in Vancouver. Attaching an image. There might be more brands available but the auto store that I visited only had this one. Only problem with bedliner is that it just covers the rust and doesn't do anything to reduce its spread. i.e. the rust will continue spreading and eventually bubble up through the bedliner. So what I did for the roof was Scrape off as much rust as possible, treat the remaining with rust treatment so it will neutralize it, then apply the bedliner.

Few things about rust treatments is that there needs to be rust for it to work. Also some actually cause rust if applied to bare metal according to their documentation. Others don't. One I found that doesn't seem to cause rust and in fact is used on bare metal as pre-treatment is Ospho 605 Metal Treatment. A friend also recommended Rust-Mort but I haven't read up on that as much as I did Ospho. You should definitely read their documentation though on application, etc. to make sure its used properly. Its pretty much an acid so will effect paint, etc...

But obviously if you want to really slow down the rust the best way is to also treat the rust from inside. My initial thought was just to treat it from outside and repeat every 6 months or so. But since I'm taking the headliner off for more headroom it makes sense to do a more thorough job.
I'll post some pictures once I get that underway...

: 20190715_102025.jpg (76.6 KiB) Viewed 4712 times

philmeup1 · Post by **philmeup1** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:17 am

This is excellent. What you're saying makes sense. You really have to treat the rust from the inside to do this fix properly. I bought mine with these rust spots on the roof, but over my 7 years of ownership, they've not gotten all that much worse. My van has been rock solid and hands down the best used vehicle I've ever purchased, so it doesn't owe me anything.

I should just bite the bullet and fix it properly. But It won't be me, and the last time I asked my mechanic friends, it won't be them fixing it either... lol

Anyway, thanks for the info. Keep me posted on your progress. I'm going to look for that bedliner stuff in a can today and see what I can find.

Cheers,

Phil