Per the title, I'm looking to buy a 3rd gen that is in otherwise great shape (under 100K miles). It's a NY car and shows some rust issues that I'm not used to seeing down here in Texas. Granted it's a 21 year old truck, but curious to hear everyone's thoughts on whether this rust is typical or would be a deal breaker.

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That’s considered clean and rust free where I’m from. Idk check it and see if it was painted over or not

Exactly what I was thinking assuming it wasn't recently painted over (it kind of looks that way).

See if you can get some better pictures of the axle area and the frame. Should be easy enough to tell if it was painted over or not.

Try to look inside the frame if you can

They still have the original spare. They either never drove it in winter or rarely drove it, possibly undercoating it with something like Fluid Film.

Unless you or can have someone put hands on it, caveat emptor.

Well, I did a little digging and the seller bought the car at auction and this is what the bumper looked like before (it has since been replaced). Based on this, I'm guessing the undercarriage has been painted over. I'm 2000 miles away otherwise I'd check myself.

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See all that rust under the hood? That's a bad sign. and with that bumper? I'd bet the undercarriage is rusted to Fck. It looks like it has been oil sprayed which wets out the rust and hides it pretty well.

I'd only have a look if it was right next door.

Why are you even looking that far away? I'd try autotempest.com if you haven't already.

I was intrigued by the quality of the interior, manual transmission, as well as the low mileage (37K miles).

Rusted bumper definitely does not match the undercarriage. Some cover up spraying has occurred there .... almost positive. I'd say hard pass on that one.

Yep, too good to be true. Seller definitely seemed shady too.

Looks like the pumpkin and the spare have been painted over. The engine looks pretty good though, I don't see anything other than some rusted mounts and brackets. The frame is really the important part imo. In my case my rear pumpkin and spare tire are fairly rusted (I've seen a lot worse though), however, my frame is actually in great shape. I also have some similar rusty mounts and whatnot in the engine bay. The only real problem I have faced so far from that is that the battery holder bolt snapped on me. I just put a helicoil in and problem solved.

As for my rear diff rust, I coated it with FERTAN RUST CONVERTER, which is supposed to convert surface rust into a zinc layer. It looks like it worked pretty well, but I really should have brushed it on instead of sprayed because it really dripped on me. I just need to paint it with an undercoating and it will work great for a long while, (or until I swap in a locking diff axle )

These frames can be a little misleading, I wish they wouldn’t box them in like they do, a thicker C-channel would be better. here’s what the frame looked like on one i just bought. obvious some rust damage on the bottom.

And after i tapped it with a hammer it got way worse.



also, just cause there’s some rust doesn’t mean you have to turn away. Obviously the price has to be right but rust can be fixed. I just bought a running/driving 5speed for $500 cause the frame needs work, but for less than $100 in metal i’ll have it back to new again.


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Check the trailing arms, user a screwdriver to poke (hard) into crevices and holes, if it goes thru - walk away. Yeah I'm from Texas too, does look 'light' but like others said it also looks too shiny underneath given how it looks under the hood, suspicious at the very least.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Here's the eBay listing if anyone is interested. I'm going to pass on it since I'm unable to see it in person and the seller lied about the previous bumper not rusting through (I found those auction pictures on my own).

1999 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4WD 4X4 5-SPEED MANUAL! LEATHER! 37K Mls! | eBay