I'm looking to purchase my first 3rd Gen and I was wondering if there are any certain areas that rust more than others. Problem areas I should look for when shopping? I know some dealers will spray paint the underbody to help hide rust when selling.

Rear axle, and right where the rear lower control arms mount up to the frame. Between the frame rail and gas tank, hard to inspect, amd inside the frame rair near the muffler due to the heat.

On top of the rear shock mounts, where debris collects. Even though there are drain holes on either side, stuff has a tendency to find its way up there in that little cup and plug them up.
Also on top of the rear sway bar end-link brackets, mounted on the frame visible from the wheel well.

Great, exactly what I was looking for. Thanks guys!

A little axle surface rust is no big deal. I also live in vt, and can tell you all about how to prevent rust, what's ok, and what isn't on the t4r. My advise is to buy outside of vt. I got mine in ct, and it had 0 rust... 3 winter months later, and the frame was covered in surface rust. The best thing you can do is spray the underside with some thing called fluid film every fall... I've done that for 5 years now, and I have no rust. Check the areas the others mentioned. If it has surface rust on the axle, not a big deal, but it does mean you should look much closer to inspect other areas... Problem spots on 4runners in vt are: rocker panels, front and rear bumpers, frame rail ends and previously mentioned... Good luck, buy outside of vt!

It seems like anyplace on the body that has a rock chip is a potential rust spot, and I live in a very dry climate. I don't care how reliable these Toyotas are, they sure use some cheap steel on them.

I regularly see rust staining start to show up around chips and have to hit them with some polish and wax. My '97 F350 has all kinds of chips and not a speck of surface rust in those chips. Same thing with my old Jeep.

Awesome thanks for the info. Yeah, rust prevention is going to be a new thing for me. I've only owned german cars in the past so they were pretty maintenance free in that regard. I just want to be sure I am starting with a solid 4Runner to begin with.

Rear LCA mounts on the frame if badly maintained. The frame usually gets minor surface rust which is normal on most body-on-frame vehicles. The rear diff housing can get pinhole leaks if it gets too rusty.

As for the body, lock at the rocker panels and rear wheel wells. The very rusty ones will start getting crispy around the back window on the hatch.

Look for something outside New England. Even NY/NJ does not use that much salt compared to New England. Use Fluidfilm and inject the inside of the boxed frame with it. Paint won't stop or prevent further rust as well as a wax or oil on the frame can.

The metal...



So you're saying it was a bad idea buying a 4runner from northern VT? Well $%!#...

Yeah, better buy yourself a 1-way plane ticket to go buy one from the south and road trip it back home. Seriously, not even kidding there. I bought local, and I have dumped probably $3k into it directly as a result of the corrosion (the other 1k I have put into it I will chock up to wear, though I bought it at only 110k miles, so the wear shouldln't have been that bad). Now I"m sitting on a $11k 4runner that still has crap tons of rust...

Anyone know how to take care of the rust on the rear shock mounts ? I can feel that there is some rust there and the paint is coming of. I keep spraying wd40. Bit is there a good to fix it ?

Yup, that exactly what I did... Jetblue to jfk, then drove it back up... If you start with a rust mostly free vehicle, its pretty easy to keep up with it... Its when you have to fight the rust, then treat it that its a constant battle.

Really your best bet would be to get some rust preventative like POR-15. You'll want to scrape all of the flaky rust off, clean the area and then just paint over it. POR-15 can be applied directly to rust and will stop it from getting any worse. It's there and there's no way to reverse it so you just need to focus on stopping it. There are plenty of other rust prevention products on the market but I ended up using POR-15 on mine.

Another body spot worth checking is the forward bottom corner of the passenger side rear wheel well.

Like this: (Picture borrowed from Dirtbike250x, I hope you don't mind.)



I am seeing more and more of this.

I have been lucky with mine in that there is virtually no rust at all, anywhere.... that is except.... under the large rear window of the drivers side. Weirdest thing I have seen. When you wash your truck you'll notice this is one of the hardest spots to keep dry as all the water from around the window collects and drips here. Over 17 years, a SLIGHT rust color is forming where the water would usually run. Nothing major, just another spot to look at.

What is the fix or cost to fix that rust I have seen a lot of it and it makes me shy away from the vehicle lol