tacoma frame replacement

[toyrunner95]

so a couple questions...

1. where should i look for frame damage. mine is a 2013. so i don't expect to really see any rust issues.
2. is this occurring in like rust belt or all over the states? I've never heard of this.

 

[yosh1975]

Lots of info on Tacomaworld in regards to rust. Most likely all the trucks that have spent time with salt will have issues.
My hole and most others are located up front by catalytic converter. I have a nice pic, will try posting later.
If your frame is not deemed to be too bad you get some nasty tar/paint/goo applied.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The 2nd gen issues are not as widespread. Yet.

The basic test is this:
http://dmv.vermont.gov/sites/dmv/files/pdf/DMV-Bltn-Insp_10-002.pdf

The recall:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/new...tacoma-could-have-frame-rust-may-get-free-fix

States included in letter.

CT. DE. IL. IN. KY. MA. MD. ME. MI. MN. NH. NJ. NY. OH. PA. RI. VA. VT. WI. WV.

Letter reads

Toyota has received reports that certain 2005 through 2009 model year Tacoma vehicles operated in specific cold climate areas with high road salt use may exhibit more-than-normal corrosion to the vehicles frame. Toyota investigated these reports and determined that the frames in some vehicles may not have corrosion-resistant protection sufficient for use in these areas.

This combined with prolonged exposure to road salts and other environmental factors, may contribute to the development of more-than-normal rust in the frame of some vehicles. This condition is unrelated to and seperate from normal surface rust which is commonly found on metallic surfaces after some years of usage and/or exposure to the environment.

We in the west are not covered even though we (1) get a fair amount of winter and (b) they use de-icer. Cars here in Colorado are rusting faster than I ever remember since they lube the roads in magnesium chloride all winter. My wife is a structural bridge engineer and our highways department knows this because their plow trucks and bridge steel are corroding faster. But people don't want to be inconvenienced with a little snow, so they go crazy with the stuff. The only reason I think it's not as bad here is the salt is sprayed on in liquid form and so there's less abrasive action of the salt pellets media blasting your vehicle.

 

[yosh1975]

 

[yosh1975]

DaveInDenver, I have heard a lot of States out West, like Montana, are starting to use the new deicer. Guess I will focus my search for used 4runner further South!

 

[DaveInDenver]

There's a few different variations, mag-chloride, Ice Slicer, etc. They are all still aggressive salts even though they are not white sodium chloride. I don't want to mislead, I grew up in Missouri and the midwest and eastern states that use traditional rock salt were and still are much worse.

But the temperatures here are usually colder so regular NaCl is less effective because the melting point is too high and you just end up with skating rinks at night. So for decades they used sand and cinders on the road for traction instead of melters. Those worked great because the sun is out a lot and red or black mixed color made the snow melt fast the next day after a snow. Other than making your car dirty they were pretty benign.

The problem was all that stuff got ground up and ended up making the air dirty, what we used to call the Denver Brown Cloud would form as all that finely powdered stuff would settle over the valley. So the EPA made them stop using it and they had to find alternatives.

https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/by-subject/by-subject-l-p/magnesium-chloride

http://www.westerntransportationinstitute.org/documents/reports/4w2007_final_report.pdf

http://www.iceslicer.com

 

[vtlogger]

yea ... my 01 went to the crusher and a few months later they started replacing frames, sure wished I'd waited to bring mine in ... oh well hind sites 20/20

 

[Rattler]

I have an '04 Doublecab that has been in Michigan all it's life. It just rolled 156K. I took it in when I got the notice about the buy-back/replacement/coating (2008 was it?). Mine got the coating since it was in good shape at the time. The coating has been flaking off over the years and I have had them inspect it periodically (I think a mech would just give it a look-over). Well, I now have a serious medical issue, polycystic kidney disease. I have to get a transplant in the near future. I decided to give Toyota a call and see what they would say about me coating the frame again with something like POR15. I don't want to have a truck fall apart while I am recovering. The guy I spoke with told me to take it into my dealer and have them inspect it and have them produce a paper saying it passed (I have not poked at it just out of fear of repercussions). I did so last Thursday. The head service writer has been there since I bought the truck in '05 and has always been helpful and is familiar with my truck. I spoke with Mat about my situation. He promptly took it back to a service bay to inspect it. About 20 minutes later he came back and told me it failed and I am getting a new frame. He said that it should be in in about a couple weeks and don't go too crazy with the truck for safety reasons. He said that it should take about a week to do but I don't have my hopes that high. They had my buddy's Tundra almost 3 months but he told them to take their time since he couldn't drive due to a surgery. He said it rides like new now at least.

I am glad that Toyota stood behind the truck even several years later. My nephew bought a ;01 XtraCab last summer and I was jealous how his had a nice frame under it!