4Runner Oil Leak and Rust Concern

Currently looking at a ‘16 Limited. Fairly low miles (42k miles/ 70k km) on the vehicle which all check out and match up. After looking the machine over which drives solid, handles well and no odd noises however I did stumble across this leak and rust one basically 1 of the doors.

1) there appears to be a oil leak on the passenger side, just above the transmission pan but it’s not the pan. It’s hard to tell if it’s coming from what appears to be this electrical sensor or from further above. Any idea on culprits that could be the cause of this? It’s concentrated on this in this area only.

2) some rust is starting to show below the passenger side door lip on the inside. It hasn’t ate through or showing on the outside skin. I’m thinking this could be fairly easily cleaned, rust converter and hopefully prevent further from spreading.

Looking forward to your inputs!

 

Check the interior metals under the carpets for signs of rust or unreported floods

 

That’s lots of bad rust and odd to have an oil leak with such low miles. Have a reputable mechanic inspect it before making any decisions. Saving a few hundred makes no difference if you end up spending thousands to fix things.

 

Thanks guys. This is the rust belt I’m at. I’ve seen quite a few of these rigs and rust is fairly common and a lot worse on other machines even newer.

That rust there is just on that one door. Nothing else on the trunk door/lips etc. the underbody, typical around the weld seams.

Re: oil leak, what is the electrical sensor/connection in that location?

 

Looks like it's the transmission leaking to me. Can you get anymore pics of it?

 

Keep looking.

 

OP - you may also want to post the offer price. Maybe its low enough to offset the defects. So responders can advise objectively.

 

bingo. This is where the leak was shown. Found this photo online which matches the sensor I asked about.

$37k CDN, / $27.5k USD

 

That's the park/neutral safety switch

 

Seems odd that just one door would have that rust. Why not the other doors?

 

Great point. I thought the same thing and looked it over closely. No signs of damage/or repair, alignment of doors all good etc. I guess I would say either poor quality control at factory or the fact that maybe that door was used less and remained closed most of the time allowing accumulation of snow/salt etc?