TCKTPLZ
Enthusiast
I haven't taken my snake out for a few weeks until yesterday and I took it out for a nice drive. Upon the first few minutes of the drive, I noticed a slight rattling coming from the driver's side, side sill. I figured it was just the cold so I proceeded along. The rattling eventually stopped so I figured all was well.
Well, after bringing her in and cleaning underneath the sills, I noticed one of the four screws for the driver's side, side sill (in the middle area of the sill) is missing. Funny thing is, I actually knew that one of the screws underneath the sill was stripped to begin with and figured it would probably come out. After getting a new exhaust installed on my car, I noticed that some of the side sill screws were not flush with the sill. In other words, they were somewhat fastened in an angled manner. To correct this, I took them all out and fastened them in straight. While doing this, I noticed that the screw at the front end of the sill would not fasten all the way. The hole was stripped but I was able to get it in without falling out. I figured it would eventually come out but this is not the case. It is actually still in---the screw that is now missing was originally in nice and tight and snug. How this screw fell out and not the stripped screw is beyond my belief.
From the reading I have done on this subject here at this forum this seems to be a common problem. The sheet metal screws that DC uses for the sills have a propensity to fall out. I have read that many rivet the sill in place. Now my question is, is there any other fix without having to resort to rivets? Can I used a larger diameter screw? I suppose the original screw would be useless? I am about as handy as a blind man with no hands and am incredibly lazy, so the rivet solution seems to be quite the challenge. I really don't want to take the car to the dealer for a single screw either, so I need some advice.
Also, is it still safe to drive the car with this screw not in place? I don't want anything to fall out or get damaged.
Thanks in advance.
Well, after bringing her in and cleaning underneath the sills, I noticed one of the four screws for the driver's side, side sill (in the middle area of the sill) is missing. Funny thing is, I actually knew that one of the screws underneath the sill was stripped to begin with and figured it would probably come out. After getting a new exhaust installed on my car, I noticed that some of the side sill screws were not flush with the sill. In other words, they were somewhat fastened in an angled manner. To correct this, I took them all out and fastened them in straight. While doing this, I noticed that the screw at the front end of the sill would not fasten all the way. The hole was stripped but I was able to get it in without falling out. I figured it would eventually come out but this is not the case. It is actually still in---the screw that is now missing was originally in nice and tight and snug. How this screw fell out and not the stripped screw is beyond my belief.
From the reading I have done on this subject here at this forum this seems to be a common problem. The sheet metal screws that DC uses for the sills have a propensity to fall out. I have read that many rivet the sill in place. Now my question is, is there any other fix without having to resort to rivets? Can I used a larger diameter screw? I suppose the original screw would be useless? I am about as handy as a blind man with no hands and am incredibly lazy, so the rivet solution seems to be quite the challenge. I really don't want to take the car to the dealer for a single screw either, so I need some advice.
Also, is it still safe to drive the car with this screw not in place? I don't want anything to fall out or get damaged.
Thanks in advance.
