Owners in salt belt... move on before rust takes over?

Ive seen fords and gmcs start to get rusty after 5 years or so. Hard to say i they are any better though since i dont know how they are kept. We are probably giving our 4 runners a bit of a bad rap, but Id like to think its because we want the frame to last like the rest of the vehicle.

 

Ya rly. If he fluid films starting now he's going to have a 4Runner that's going to last a long, long time. I think there's one crossmember that's a kind of questionable, but whatever.

 

Rhode Island. This 4R has spent its whole life in MA/RI.

 

The one in the rear? Yeah, I really should pull the spare and address that.

And this has seen an application of FF, btw, I had it sprayed at a shop in late 2019.

 

This is the one I was talking about that looks questionable. It probably wouldn't be bad to get some additional opinions on it. I wouldn't be surprised if it wouldn't be a humongous deal. I think it's a crossmember? I'm not 100% sure from looking at the pic.

 

Yeah, that's one of the ones that worries me. That's actually the underside of the body.

 

Anything will rust in road salt areas. I do really think that the Toyotas are especially prone to it though. Any pick up here in New England not older than 10 years is likely to have holes in the rockers and quarters. The early 2000s GM trucks were definitely bad for this. They can have frame issues as well, I think that was the first years of the fully boxed hydroformed frame on them, so that may be a reason. I don't hear a lot about Dodge frames going, but the bodies rot out, Dodge is terrible for this.

A few years back I was looking for a first gen Sequoia, had a hard time finding one that didn't have a lot of rust on the body, so I gave up. Same with a few 3rd gen 4Runners that I found. I actually know a guy who thought he picked up an extremely clean 3rd gen, and then within a month he was posting photos of a big hole in the frame, with the quote "tell me again why boxed frames are good idea?" LOL.

On the other hand, my 07 Volvo is in way better shape than my 13 4Runner, and I've done zero rust prevention on that car since buying it in 2012. Those cars are amazing for rust resistance, even the factory corrosion warranty on them is 12 years 144,000 miles.

 

No, the underhood photos are from both sides of the vehicle. The first one is on the passenger side near the air box, the second one is the underside of the leading edge of the hood, and the third one is on the driver's side, near the brake booster.

 

Absolutely they all do. Some better than others. My opinion is that fully boxed frames are technically better but being closed for rigidity doesn't lend to longevity. As closed fully boxed frames tend to accumulate more "crap" internally given all the holes in them like the 4runners. Causing them to rot from the inside out. My son's opened framed Tundra frame still looks awesome. It's a losing battle we all learn to accept living in a salt belt. I love the old school body on frame design of the 4runner but I tend to believe that a unibody design rustproofed from day 1 could outlast a body on a fully boxed frame in a salt belt Toyota or not. Just consider where you live and how long you plan to keep your 4runner and rustproof accordingly. I plan to keep mine a long time.

 

No way would I re-locate because of a vehicle. I have lived in the "rust belt" , SoCal, East coast and south.
Face it. Rust can grow ANYWHERE! Fact of life.
Rust is the Cancer of vehicles, same as cancer in a human....no cure! You might slow it down, but it will eventually eat you up. I do not stress over it.
Personally though, I have never owned, or cared to own a vehicle long enough for rust problems to be a concern.

 

They all suffer from the same problem, some vehicles have galvanized frames, which avoid most of the problem.

 

Tap that with a ball peen hammer a few times and you'll see what's left. Not much by the time you reach solid metal. You need to deal with this area a.s.a.p. Yah it's a crossmember to frame joint but it's more rotten than you think as shown by this pic. The pic also shows major rot towards the center of the crossmember. Question is how much do you love or want to keep this 4runner. The damage has been done. Personally I wish my municipality would stop over salting our roadways to compensate for the few idiots that won't drive according to conditions in winter.

 

Exactly! Sometimes I see more salt down than actual snow.

 

Well, if it's as bad as you say, Carvana or Vroom it is. I'll have to get under there this weekend and check it out.

I agree. I don't know why they just can't use sand, if there's even a hint of snow, they put down a bunch of that salt chemical stuff, and there's like a half inch thick layer on the road before it even snows.

How about states like Colorado, which gets major snowfall, and they don't have this issue? Clearly they figured it out. Yet here in Rhode Island where some winters it barely snows, they use thousands of tons of the stuff a year.

I swear it's all kickbacks, people in these salt companies have contacts in the state and local governments, it's all a scam I'm sure. Same reason they'd rather pave a road every other year than just do it right the first time.

 

Same here I tend to think it's more a liability issue than anything else. You should see the accidents around here upon the first snowfall of the season where most everyone forgets how to drive in the snow.

 

Good point. People drive like it's the first time they've ever encountered snow. Plus you get a lot of the "I can get one more season out of this set of tires" crowd as well.

 

I got under there the other day and tapped everything with a hammer, everything seems solid. Just a little crusty looking.

We got about a quarter inch of snow last night, I think they dropped about half an inch of salt on the roads. It's disgusting. I'm in my house and I can hear it rusting outside from here, LOL.

I'm thinking maybe I should sell it either way. Values are still high, and I want to buy a house so I think I need to set some cash aside for that. I just look at that thing as 20K cash sitting in the street right now. All the articles I'm reading are saying that pricing growth is going to slow in 2022, however rates are going to go up. Might be time to think about making the leap.

 

Live in Ohio. Had 2012 Tacoma and had it oil spray every year in October. Clean and rust free at time of trade in. Just bought a TRD ORP 2021 had jts first oil spray this October. If you keep up with this prevention, it will last. Cheap preventative.