I've just discovered some surface rust(!) developing on the top liip of my tailgate - right at and above the spot where the plastic washer fluid squirter piece is. I would like to remove this piece in order to have a better look and do the old Dremel-grind, prime and touch-up repair. Have tried pulling on this piece (but not too hard!) and it won't budge.

How do I remove it? Is this gonna be one of those awful episodes things where I need to disassamble the inside of the tailgate???

My Chilton's does not cover this item and the item itself looks significantly different from the older style (located off on the back of the right-side D pillar).

Also - has anyone tried the Langka paint chip finisher that IPD sells? Do you recommend it?

Hi BigDan! Surface rust?.....really? I thought all `93 245s had aluminum tailgates. I have some exposed paint chips on the edge of my tailgate (yes, I've been lacking in my touch-up duties) and no corrosion has ever developed on or around them.

240 tailgates are steel and you just pop the cap off the squirter nozzle. You can see near the base that there is a seam. Carefully pry there to expose teh hose end. Yours may be short-squirting internally or something..

What can I say? My car is a 240, a '93, and my tailgate is the original. It isn't aluminum and yes sir, I have rust, albeit in a tiny amount.

Unless you know definitively differently, as you well may, I do not think '93 240s had aluminum tailgates. I was led to understand that only the 700/900 series had aluminum body parts (engine hoods, tailgates, trunk lids) and thta 240s used steel up to the bitter end.

If it's like the nozzle on the older cars, you must snap it to remove it and install a new nozzle.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

Hi Don, re your comment -

Snap it? As in >break< it to get it off?

Will the tubing snake back into the tailgate so that I have to go to great lengths to fish it out again or will it sit there for me?

As I said, I'm describing an earlier style nozzle (as used on my '86). The newer nozzle might be different -- I'm not lucky enough to suffer a '93 245 yet!

The '86 style nozzle has two plastic "barbs" that spead open behind the hole, once pushed through -- much like a toggle bolt that you push through a hole, and then it's there forever (or lost). I've broken several removimg them for exactly the same problem you're fighting. As I recall, though, they're only a few bucks.

When I've pulled them out, the hose comes out with the nozzle a few inches. For the second repair, I was prepared with a bit of masking tape to secure the hose. I learned the hard way on my first repair, and had to snake a leader down through the corner piller to pull up the hose.

Bob Haire suggested an interesting approach -- I'll keep it in mind for the next 245 I tackle.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)