What did you do with your 4runner today?

[Bluesky 07]

Started digging in to my tailgate rust bubbles and in the immortal words of Top Gun’s Iceman, “This is not good, this is not good!”

For anyone not familiar with the issue, this is the inside of the hatch. The factory rattle dampener/sound deadener is stuck to the metal there. In perhaps their best impression ever of GM in the ‘80s, Toyota apparently applied the material before painting or treating the surface, so when the inevitable water shows up by leaking past the rear window weatherstripping, some gets trapped under the deadener and this happens.

It’s insidious b/c the material looks fine to a casual inspection, but the problem eventually manifests itself as rust bubbles on the hatch and when you scrape away the deadener, this is what you find. Clearly should have been a TSB (I’m assuming there wasn’t?) w/ repairs at Toyota’s expense.

Full writeup w/ pics once I get things back in order.

 

[kcdehart]

Started digging in to my tailgate rust bubbles and in the immortal words of Top Gun’s Iceman, “This is not good, this is not good!”

For anyone not familiar with the issue, this is the inside of the hatch. The factory rattle dampener/sound deadener is stuck to the metal there. In perhaps their best impression ever of GM in the ‘80s, Toyota apparently applied the material before painting or treating the surface, so when the inevitable water shows up by leaking past the rear window weatherstripping, some gets trapped under the deadener and this happens.

It’s insidious b/c the material looks fine to a casual inspection, but the problem eventually manifests itself as rust bubbles on the hatch and when you scrape away the deadener, this is what you find. Clearly should have been a TSB (I’m assuming there wasn’t?) w/ repairs at Toyota’s expense.

Full writeup w/ pics once I get things back in order.

This is on my list to inspect this weekend. Crossing my fingers I'll be able to scrape off the rust and spray some treatment on there. I don't think I have any actual bubbles in the paint yet.

Also gonna be removing my front sway bar and replacing the driver wheel bearing! Fun times!

 

[originalg00kster]

I looked t that, but it says 02-05 and its an 8 pin, I think mine is a 12 pin. I will not be sure until I take mine out though.

So this is what I used, straight plug and play. I have an 07 SR5 V6 as well.

LM449 / CF18 LED Flasher Relay Replacement - LED Bulb Upgrades and HyperFlash Fixes from LED Concepts

I haven't had any issues with my LEDs flickering or anything at all. You can also adjust the signal speed on this thing, which I thought was pretty cool.

 

[Bluesky 07]

So this is what I used, straight plug and play. I have an 07 SR5 V6 as well.

LM449 / CF18 LED Flasher Relay Replacement - LED Bulb Upgrades and HyperFlash Fixes from LED Concepts

I haven't had any issues with my LEDs flickering or anything at all. You can also adjust the signal speed on this thing, which I thought was pretty cool.

That's an 8-pin product, so did you lose your DRLs or are you saying your '07 has an 8-pin flasher? I also have an '07 but have never looked at the flasher.

 

[originalg00kster]

That's an 8-pin product, so did you lose your DRLs or are you saying your '07 has an 8-pin flasher? I also have an '07 but have never looked at the flasher.

I don't have any DRL's [SR5], but it plugged right in with no issues. I did this because I didn't want to tap into any wires for the resistors.

 

[MDurbs68]

Changed trans fluid at 106,000 miles. Old fluid looked fine. I'll probably change again around 136,000 or so.
Added AVS window visors. They are the stick on type and are ok. I had a hell of a time getting in channel visors to seat properly so I went with the 3M tape type. So far, so good.
I also towed for the first time. I rented a 6X12 U-Haul to move my son and his roommate into their college apartment. I have no idea what it weighed but it was packed pretty tight with typical funiture etc. I was impressed how the thing towed. I averaged 12 mpg loaded for just over 200 miles and 13.8 unloaded on the way home.

 

[Bluesky 07]

I don't have any DRL's [SR5], but it plugged right in with no issues. I did this because I didn't want to tap into any wires for the resistors.

Oh... I thought DRLs were standard on all ‘07 trims. My bad.

 

[RumpYak]

Keep us posted. The vanity lights are the only ones I haven’t done yet also!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The ones that "don't fit" work perfectly. They are bright, but not too bright for the vanity lights. They are the same "color" of white as the other LEDs in the dome and map lights. Here's a link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MOYJ0YW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Terminator03]

Started digging in to my tailgate rust bubbles and in the immortal words of Top Gun’s Iceman, “This is not good, this is not good!”

For anyone not familiar with the issue, this is the inside of the hatch. The factory rattle dampener/sound deadener is stuck to the metal there. In perhaps their best impression ever of GM in the ‘80s, Toyota apparently applied the material before painting or treating the surface, so when the inevitable water shows up by leaking past the rear window weatherstripping, some gets trapped under the deadener and this happens.

It’s insidious b/c the material looks fine to a casual inspection, but the problem eventually manifests itself as rust bubbles on the hatch and when you scrape away the deadener, this is what you find. Clearly should have been a TSB (I’m assuming there wasn’t?) w/ repairs at Toyota’s expense.

Full writeup w/ pics once I get things back in order.

Oh man, I’ve been dreading finding a patch like that! I have a couple of small bubbles in the usual spot to the right of the plate, so I know what to expect now unfortunately. Thanks for posting the pic.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Oh man, I’ve been dreading finding a patch like that! I have a couple of small bubbles in the usual spot to the right of the plate, so I know what to expect now unfortunately. Thanks for posting the pic.

Here’s the full extent:

I assume that if other parts of that surface haven’t rusted by now, they probably won’t. My plan is to grind off the rust I can, paint that area with rust reformer and then it and as much of the inside of the hatch as possible with primer. Then I will cover that area with PlastiDip as an extra seal (considered undercoating but prefer PD as it’s removeable).

Decided to leave the outer surface bubbles for another day.

 

[Dirtrider216]

Wanting to do the rear diff breather mod after my drive in water up to my doors while I was on a Main Street
But I can’t tell from searching, do I have to worry about breathers for front/ center diff / transfer case transmission or anything like that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kcdehart]

Bought my engine gasket kit, head bolts, and the head bolt tool in preparation for my head gasket job. Taking her to the shop for it on the 19th, but fortunately they're letting me order my own parts.

Got everything for <$300 though, so I consider that a win!

 

[Tazer]

Added myself some usb ports

Sent from my SM-N960W using Tapatalk

 

[Terminator03]

Wow, that’s really sad they did it that way on a panel that regularly sees moisture and water. Hopefully they didn’t do something similar inside the other doors!

 

[MY06T4R]

I installed LED lights on my interior, fog lights, low beams, and turn signals front and rear. Everything works great, except now I suffer from the rapid turn signal flashing. I will have to modify the turn signal flasher or install some resistors.

:UPDATE:

Well I bought these resisters from amazon LotFancy 4Pcs 50W 6ohm Load Resistors, Fix LED Bulb Fast Hyper Flash, Turn Signal Blink Error Code, LED License Plate Lights, I installed last night and solved my hyper flash for $7 and about 15 minutes of my time. Only tools needed was a test light and a pair of pliers. Test light was only needed for the rear since it has one plug for the whole tail light and the pliers for the wire connectors.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Wow, that’s really sad they did it that way on a panel that regularly sees moisture and water. Hopefully they didn’t do something similar inside the other doors!

Assuming you’re referring to the tailgate rust, yes, it’s a rather shocking mistake by a manufacturer with Toyota’s reputation. To answer your question, the good news is no, at least on my truck. I recently had all four doors stripped to install sound deadener and while each has similar factory anti-rattle material, none showed any sign of water effects or rust.

 

[kcdehart]

Did my driver's side wheel bearing today. Nice to finally not have a humming when driving. It was good enough to pass inspection but bad enough that that shop didn't want to align it. All in all not a hard job (though the hub required some smacking with a hammer. I'm sure my neighborhood hates me even more now). The worst part was getting the hub bolts 90% of the way reinstalled and realizing my brake dust shield was sitting on the ground beside me........had to pull it all apart, sandwich that in, and then retighten everything. Was a pain in the ass because you have to use a crescent wrench for it all.

Also decided to pop off my inner rear hatch panel and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of rust!

I've only seen rust around the plastic 'garnish' on the rear so far where it's rubbed on the paint, so hit that with some touch-up paint. There are no bubbles over where the sound deadening is, so I decided not to pry that off any further, sealed up what I'd pulled off, and cleaned the rest of the area up. Also sealed that clear plastic cover with some Gorilla tape since the tar on it would no longer stick. Crossing my fingers I'm good to go for a while now as far as the hatch is concerned.

 

[Jdevtac]

Did my driver's side wheel bearing today. Nice to finally not have a humming when driving. It was good enough to pass inspection but bad enough that that shop didn't want to align it. All in all not a hard job (though the hub required some smacking with a hammer. I'm sure my neighborhood hates me even more now). The worst part was getting the hub bolts 90% of the way reinstalled and realizing my brake dust shield was sitting on the ground beside me........had to pull it all apart, sandwich that in, and then retighten everything. Was a pain in the ass because you have to use a crescent wrench for it all.

Also decided to pop off my inner rear hatch panel and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of rust!

I've only seen rust around the plastic 'garnish' on the rear so far where it's rubbed on the paint, so hit that with some touch-up paint. There are no bubbles over where the sound deadening is, so I decided not to pry that off any further, sealed up what I'd pulled off, and cleaned the rest of the area up. Also sealed that clear plastic cover with some Gorilla tape since the tar on it would no longer stick. Crossing my fingers I'm good to go for a while now as far as the hatch is concerned.

Mine looked just like yours when I inspected it. Kinda crusty around the edges of the dampener but otherwise looked “ok”. My only concern though is it seemed like everything looked okay for people affected by the rust until all the sudden it finally perfed the hatch paint on the outside.

I wanted to take that piece of shit off but it was going to take a nice spatula/chisel that I didn’t have at the time. Stupid thing has become solidified over the years I guess/hard as a rock. I scraped some with a screwdriver but didn’t find anything in the areas I probed. Topped it all off with some Corrosion X HD to hopefully keep any water out.

 

[firefoxed]

Crazy find in a flea market today, $6 for a leather gear knob :hat:

 

[Bluesky 07]

Finished up the tailgate & feel confident I met the goal of preventing further rust damage for the foreseeable future (fingers crossed). Notes & pics:

The factory material is very difficult to remove unless there’s rust under it, in which case mine flaked right off. So that’s a good test. I used a metal putty knife to remove it and tapped the bottom of the scraper handle with a hammer to get the tougher spots. Be sure you get all the pieces, flakes, & dust out of the bottom of the tailgate lest it block the drain holes. I used my hands to get the large pieces like the one below, then a ShopVac followed up by compressed air.

Front (visible when looking into the tailgate)

Underside

Dust & particles collect at the bottom. This is after most had been removed. Get as much of it as you can.

I scraped, grinded, & wire brushed the rust until nothing else was coming off then painted with rust reformer.

I wanted secondary corrosion protection besides the Rust Reformer paint. Considered undercoating & PlastiDip but ultimately chose Fluid Film:

Decided to do my sound deadening while the hatch was disassembled. I reinstalled the plastic factory vapor barrier and covered it with a foam board piece that I waterproofed with Flex Seal.

Attached it with metal HVAC tape but forgot to get a pic of it installed.

Final step was addind Noico Green to the inside of the hatch trim. Haven’t gone anywhere yet so no report on whether it’s quieter now.