Is this rust too much??? First time runner buyer

A

alexjmoon

New member
Hello all!

I've been researching 3rd gen runners for awhile now and trying to find a clean one with good maintenance history. I've come across one at a local dealer and everything on it looks great, super clean, and well maintained. its a 98 with 144k on the clock but one problem im having with it is the rust underneath.
I should mention I live in Chicago so most cars especially old ones are rusty, i just dont know if this is excessive or what.

Ive got a few pictures of what i saw underneath and i want to know if this amount of rust is too much to buy the car.

https://ibb.co/i8dWom
https://ibb.co/djLNuR
https://ibb.co/f5mHTm
https://ibb.co/egf0g6

Id like to know everyone's opinion and if i should steer clear from this car or if itll be something i can clean up myself.

THANKS!
 
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That bumper is pretty much rusted through. It will start flaking apart and losing all the chrome paint.

I'd say keep looking. You don't know how bad the rust is until things start falling apart on you.
 
alexjmoon said:
Hello all!

I've been researching 3rd gen runners for awhile now and trying to find a clean one with good maintenance history. I've come across one at a local dealer and everything on it looks great, super clean, and well maintained. its a 98 with 144k on the clock but one problem im having with it is the rust underneath.
I should mention I live in Chicago so most cars especially old ones are rusty, i just dont know if this is excessive or what.

Ive got a few pictures of what i saw underneath and i want to know if this amount of rust is too much to buy the car.

https://ibb.co/i8dWom
https://ibb.co/djLNuR
https://ibb.co/f5mHTm
https://ibb.co/egf0g6

Id like to know everyone's opinion and if i should steer clear from this car or if itll be something i can clean up myself.

THANKS!
Click to expand...

I'd keep looking for a cleaner one since that's a lot of rust. And, it's hard to tell for sure, but the frame rail appears to be cracked at the trailing link attach structure.
 
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First thing I do anymore is crawl underneath em. Lot of NE cars coming down here to Florida where folks don't know better to look for the rusted undercarriage. Good catch OP. Lots of work needed there. 4th pic is the deal killer. Keep lookin......
 
alexjmoon said:
I live in Chicago so most cars especially old ones are rusty, i just dont know if this is excessive or what.
Click to expand...

Coming from someone that owns a Chicago-based 4Runner. Run away. This one isn't worth your time. You'll snap every-other bolt you try to loosen... ask me how I know :(

It'll be worth it to look for out-of-state cars, even if you have to pay a little more.


I've been doing a lot of rust repair recently to save mine. If I hadn't owned it for over 10 years, I would have punted it for a cleaner one.
 
wow, thank you for all the quick replies. I dont know much about cars but i had a feeling that amount of rust wasn't good and the dealer wanted $7k for it! I wont be going anywhere near that one. Thanks for all the help!!!
 
like i said in my build thread, there's millions of these trucks. no sense in settling on something you don't love 100%. keep looking and the right one will find you.
 
alexjmoon said:
wow, thank you for all the quick replies. I dont know much about cars but i had a feeling that amount of rust wasn't good and the dealer wanted $7k for it! I wont be going anywhere near that one. Thanks for all the help!!!
Click to expand...

Listen, let me help you. I've had two Chicago Rigs. Look for undercoating. If there isn't any undercoating or evidence of someone using Fluid Film, just save yourself a lot of trouble and walk away. My SR5 looked similar to that one you posted, minus the obvious crack, and it lasted 3.5 years before the frame gave up the ghost.
 
That 4th pic is the reason why so many otherwise nice looking and running 4runners end up as parts trucks. Stay a way from that one.
 
If it was cheap enough I’d buy it ($1000, actually $1200 would be the highest I’d consider it). But since they are asking $7k that’s a definite nope.
 
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