Rust starting on my lift gate already %&*&$#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pattycakes

New member
Well this is crazy , out of warranty by 4 months and just notice bubbles starting around the emblem , gona snap , this should not be happening on a 3 year old vehicle no matter what climate it happens to live in . Truck is otherwise rust free other than surface rust on the frame and axles which I somewhat expect .
 
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I just notice the same thing on my truck. I need to check on this but I believe the paint warranty is longer then the 3yr/30,000mi warranty.
 
Toyota is a stickler on claiming that warrantee. The fine print that we signed somewhere says "perforation" and apparently not at a seam. Not sure how often holes rust out in the middle of a body panel. Hope you have a dealer w some common sense.
 
Well this is crazy , out of warranty by 4 months and just notice bubbles starting around the emblem , gona snap , this should not be happening on a 3 year old vehicle no matter what climate it happens to live in . Truck is otherwise rust free other than surface rust on the frame and axles which I somewhat expect .
i can't really tell by your pics, but by "around the emblem" i assume you mean along the seam where the rear garnish meets the lift gate sheet metal. (the garnish is plastic, of course.)

if i understand correctly, you aren't the first to notice this. it's likely bits of metal dust etc. getting rubbed where the two parts meet. you can remove the rear garnish and repair any existing damage (see FSM kindly provided by [MENTION=51294]nashman69g[/MENTION]).

moving forward, just be conscientious about blowing out that area at the self-wash bay from time to time and you should be fine.

hope that helps.
 
Sorry don't understand what u mean by FSM ( factory service manual ????), this is deff bubbles forming , not rail dust or anything like that , I will see the dealer some time this week and its not the dealer I bought it from , this should be intresting , wish me luck. How does one pull that off , do you need to remove the inner door panel to access screws or does it pop off from the out side ?
 
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Well you beat me to it. I was going to post this tomorrow. I have the same issue. 2011 SR5 pearl white, 40 months in service, 39,000 miles. You can see the rust started underneath the paint as the paint is blistered from below. It has spread pretty quickly as I waited word back from Toyota.

Just heard from dealer on Friday after waiting 3 weeks for word if Toyota will pay or not. Since the vehicle is out of service they will pay half to have it repaired. Dealer said they tried to get full cost of repair and explained to area service rep that I'm EXTREMELY METICULOUS about caring for my vehicles so it wasn't a customer issue. The whole panel has to be striped and repainted after rust repair. Very disappointing and inexcusable. Not sure what I'm going to do next, will think about it for a few days. It will have to be fixed no matter which way I go. I understand the 4th gens had the same problem and a TSB was issued.

My warranty claims on vehicles that I bought new and are currently in my driveway or garage are the following:

2007 Honda Accord - 0 warranty claims
2007 Chevrolet Corvette C6 - 0 warranty claims
2008 Ford F350 Super Duty - 0 warranty claims
2011 Toyota 4 Runner - 3 warranty claims

Although I like the drive train, suspension, frame rigidity, and body integrity in the 4 Runner, I'm pretty underwhelmed and unimpressed with the body and interior both in quality of materials and durability. Just my 2 cents worth of the impression Toyota left on me as consumer when I make my next purchase. Not looking for a Toyota quality debate here.


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Pretty sad isn't it mine has 20 000 miles on it , im ocd about keepn the truck clean , truck spent the first 30months of its life in a dry climate the last 6 months or so in a humid ,salt infested climate , this thing is just gona explode , Toyota is off my short list for my next new vehicle too.

Anyone have a copy of the old tsb so I can take that in hand to the dealer with me for some ammo , and tell them to just fix it cause theres probably gona be one out for this generation of 4 runners soon too.

edit : found it for the 06-07 year and it says in there its only good for the 3yr/36k warenty , oh no , no good. , it says remove stain or repaint , lol what would cause the stain if it wasn't rust , that would require repainting , funny stuff
 
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GOOD GOSH! This is scary and beyond unacceptable from Toyota! Having just purchased a Blizzard Pearl 2012 SR5 two days ago this really hits home for me! I was a former owner of a "Just Empty Every Pocket" which had a terminal case of the cancer, I have walked this road before. Keep us posted on the outcome.
 
Well you beat me to it. I was going to post this tomorrow. I have the same issue. 2011 SR5 pearl white, 40 months in service, 39,000 miles. You can see the rust started underneath the paint as the paint is blistered from below. It has spread pretty quickly as I waited word back from Toyota.

Just heard from dealer on Friday after waiting 3 weeks for word if Toyota will pay or not. Since the vehicle is out of service they will pay half to have it repaired. Dealer said they tried to get full cost of repair and explained to area service rep that I'm EXTREMELY METICULOUS about caring for my vehicles so it wasn't a customer issue. The whole panel has to be striped and repainted after rust repair. Very disappointing and inexcusable. Not sure what I'm going to do next, will think about it for a few days. It will have to be fixed no matter which way I go. I understand the 4th gens had the same problem and a TSB was issued.

My warranty claims on vehicles that I bought new and are currently in my driveway or garage are the following:

2007 Honda Accord - 0 warranty claims
2007 Chevrolet Corvette C6 - 0 warranty claims
2008 Ford F350 Super Duty - 0 warranty claims
2011 Toyota 4 Runner - 3 warranty claims

Although I like the drive train, suspension, frame rigidity, and body integrity in the 4 Runner, I'm pretty underwhelmed and unimpressed with the body and interior both in quality of materials and durability. Just my 2 cents worth of the impression Toyota left on me as consumer when I make my next purchase. Not looking for a Toyota quality debate here.


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Wow...I was wondering when I would see this come up. I have a small spot starting on mine. According to my dealer this is a common problem for the 4Runner. I guess it started with the Corolla. I have not had a chance to take mine in for evaluation on Warranty yet since the wonderful snow and salt keep covering it up. I am hoping it is fully covered since I too have only 40K on it.
 
Can you guys that have the rust spots forming take a look at something for me? Could you see how close the plastic trim panel (the "wing" that the 4RUNNER emblem is glued to) comes to rubbing the paint on the spots where the rust started forming? I noticed on mine that at certain points it looks real close and could possibly rub if you constantly lift the tailgate by that trim panel when opening it. I try to make it a habit not to open the tailgate by just the trim panel :(
 
The whole center third of the lift garnish contacts the paint. Yes, everyplace their is rust it is contacting the paint but not everyplace of contact has rust. The 1/3 on each end of the garnish is away from the paint approx .010". Hope this answers your question.
 
Alberta 2012 T4R Limited Blizzard Pearl Also Reporting In With This Problem... General warranty just ended in January, wonder what they'll say when I bring it in next week.
 
This saddens me, the quality is just not like it used to be. I haven't seen many 4th gens having this issue or even 3rd gens (granted I live in the hellhole known as California...), but it seems that the 5th gens had some improvements and a few cost cutting measures with an increase in price (not trying to rag on you 5th gen guys, just pointing out my observation.)

Hopefully Toyota will help you guys out, this seems to be more of a manufacturing defect of some kind (i.e. the plastic is rubbing through the enough to allow bubbling to occur and/or the vehicles weren't prepped properly at assembly and somehow these seams are a weak point in the paint and/or trap too much moisture?)
 
took mine in and they sent me to their body shop to have pictrues taken , then they will send them to Toyota to see what they say , I will keep yas posted
 
rust on liftgate

Just noticed some rust today. Came to the forum to see if anyone else had issues. Wow, I have had no real problems with the truck, but my days of driving a pos looking rust bucket are in the past. I bought a toyota cause I wanted a truck I could hold on to long term ( my idea of long term is 15-17 years since i only put on about 8000 miles a year) and they seem run for some time. So needless to say I am very disappointed with the find.
 

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