Too Much Rust?

[MINISuperCooper]

Hello,

My wife and I are looking at a 4Runner. It's a 2003 with extremely low miles. It looks amazing! (Like new!) We were debating on getting it, and the dealership let us take it overnight for an extended test drive. We had pretty much fallen in love with the truck, and when we got home I began to look at it more closely. I looked underneath and discovered what I would consider to be a lot of rust on the frame. I'm attaching pictures. Is this normal? Is there something I could do to keep the rust from continuing this trend? (We live in the south, so there's not a lot of salt on the roads. However, it spent 10 years in New Jersey, so I'm assuming it took on a lot of salt up there.) Should we bail and continue our search? We were so excited, because we thought we had made the find of the century. We had decided to buy it…then we found the rust.

 

[2014 Warthog]

Well can't make an absolute determination from those small pics but over all I'd say that while it looks like there is a lot of rust, it doesn't look like there is any structural issues related to it. It really looks mostly like a ton of surface rust only. Most of the frame paint is still intact.

However if I were to buy it I would factor in that yes you should get under there with some wire brushes and some serious rust inhibitor, including finding the stuff with a wand that allows you to use it on the inside of the frame.

And in the end you may have a number of bolts that won't want to come out easy if you were to say replace your gas tank skid with something beefier or something like that.

Then again there could be that ONE spot you didn't photograph that's worse than what's there in the images. Take a good look in the daylight, maybe tap with a ballpean around and make sure everything seems solid.

Or take it to a mechanic/body shop and ask them for a professional opinion...

TLR It looks like its not an actual /problem/ but it does look bad enough that I would want to get under there and spend time "Fixing it" so it never got any worse.

 

[MINISuperCooper]

Thank you! I think I'll see if I can get someone to look at it today. It's amazing! It's a 2003 with 54,000 miles, and it's perfect…except for the rust underneath.

 

[lesner555]

Im no specialist in any kind but I bought an 07 4runner from Connecticut last year. I was very immature at that time and did not even bother to check the frame for rust lol. But after reading through here I saw that rust indeed is a problem for frames. I checked and it was exactly just like yours. I asked around from a lot of mechanics and every time they said don't worry its just surface rust but I am not kind to not worry so I got a can of POR 15 and spent a whole day coating the frame. Now I just wash its underbody every week during the winter. I live in New Jersey so still in the salt belt. Ill attach a pic of my 4runners underbody. Hope this helps.

 

[MINISuperCooper]

Wow! That looks amazing! Thank you! If we get this 4Runner, I'll definitely do that. I took it to a mechanic, and he was impressed with the truck itself. He said the rust wasn't a big issue…just surface rust. I want the 4Runner. (I love it! It's unbelievable in every way in my opinion. It feels great. It has lots of power.) My wife wants to test drive a Jeep before we commit to buying this one, so we're driving a Jeep Patriot this evening. I have nothing against Jeeps. (I've always liked them.) However, I can't imagine a Jeep driving like this 4Runner! I'm impressed!

 

[85straight]

Take a look at some consumer reports and reviews for a patriot, that along with a test drive will have you sold on the 4runner....love at first sight is real:driving:

 

[MINISuperCooper]

I'm happy to say we bought the 4Runner! We're excited! Thank you for all the comments!

 

[lesner555]

Congratulations ! Im sure you wont regret your decision. Welcome to the forum and remember to post pictures of your truck :lookout:

 

[djake]

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[MINISuperCooper]

Here's the only pic I have right now. We were filling up. (Yesterday was a long day, and we didn't have any daylight to get good pictures.) My wife drove it to work today, but we'll take some pictures when we both get home. We love this truck!