My mum ran into a state inspection issue. The mechanic was not fully comfortable passing this 2000 Tundra which is in New England.
From what I can see it looks like layers (1mm-3mm are flaking off).
What are your opinions on this for a 9 year truck with 82k?
Nice Photo!
Explain the picture, please. Looks like a “frame rail” and what’s the transverse piece attached to it?
I live in a severe weather area in the salt belt. They salt the roads nearly daily for nearly 7 months. It takes more than 15 years for any of our vehicles to develop that kind of corrosion damage. I think the manufacturer has some responsibility in it. Yikes.
CSA
The pic is of the frame rail in the wheel well(easiest place to get a pic). The attached piece is not critical just a bumper for leaf springs. However if you look forward or aft the entire frame frail looks like what you see for 1’-3’ length sections.
The truck otherwise is in exceptional mechanical shape and body is excellent and drives really well.
Frame pieces are pretty thick and will take YEARS to cause enough damage to make it dangerous. This could just be surface rust. Take it to a frame specialist and have it examined closely. I seriously doubt it’s an issue.
That’s a great, clear pic and the rust is pretty bad in my opinion. What’s shown is far more serious than some garden variety surface rust and this looks like an accident waiting to happen.
It may be time to contact Toyota Motor Co. and drag them in as this is not a rare problem. I think TMC is handling these on a case by case basis. A net search on this problem may provide some details.
That also looks like brake lines on the inside and if those lines are in contact with the rusted frame rail you have to wonder about the condition of the lines.
(At one time many years ago some of the VW Rabbits were prone to rusted brake line failure. The lines were routed inside the car under the carpet and over time water leaks would rot the lines. This led to brake fluid soaked carpet mats and loss of fluid; along with some shops being puzzled about where in the world the fluid was going in the first place.)
Mum have have a case on getting this fixed.
http://www.autospies.com/news/Toyota-Acknowledges-1st-Gen-Tundra-Frame-Rust-Issues-43429/
Good find. Here’s a link to the actual WCVB article. Hope it helps- http://www.thebostonchannel.com/investigative/19294250/detail.html