Should I buy? Rust check on a 2003 Taco!

that's why she said 'cheaper' and not 'cheap'

 

are you sure you got no rust going on your underneath frame any spots or nothing
you do drive through water in Florida or no and the 20 year old paint that has likely worn out by now from age?

 

oh!
i failed english in HS

 

this is a real problem spot too i found that i guess just slipped through the cracks





^^^ this truck here was undercoated in 2000, its a 96 (or was)

 

these pics look like some kinda funky coating they may have done to it in the northeast per the warranty spray thing
it does not look like regular paint to me anyways

 

Frame has zero rust. I just picked it up about a year ago and that’s one of the reasons why I bought it.

Truck has also never been in a serious accident. It did need a motor when I bought it. I think the po overheated it and it has a blown head gasket. 348k now and I plan to put a lot more on it

 

that is very interesting!
i wonder how come the paint coating has not failed at this age? was it never driven on a gravel road,sand or offroaded?
somebody told me the coating gets old and starts flaking

if a halogen light and wd40 wipedown does not light something up i may need to figure out what the deal is with this stuff
the halogen light will show you things!

 

there is a tacoma xtracab (2000 i think) for sale in Salina Kansas on I-70 shell station lot for about $6500 as of two weeks ago
the clearcoat & black body paint is peeling bad
it may have been an automatic AT but not certain
i only had a brief amount of time to check it out while gassing up and heading out

 

I’ve been all over it. When I say zero rust I mean no rot. Here and there are scratches and dings but nothing I’m worried about. It certainly has no resemblance to any of your northern trucks. None of my paint is failing either. I’m not sure why it’s held up so well but I’ll leave it be

 

how HOT was she?

 

The herp might have been worth it... just sayin

 

you got yourself a unicorn then with no rust at all anywhere on that cheapass coating! that metal likes to flash rust really fast with just plain water from my experience handling it
what the heck is wrong with mine stuffs peeling everywhere
i wash i wash i wash for decades

 

I bought a 2000 tacoma in 2009 and it was the same way. Just a nice shiny black frame. I guess I’ve just been lucky

 

Washington uses salt now...supposedly in a manner that won't harm vehicles, but ... https://www.wsdot.com/winter/snow-and-ice-plan.htm

 

isn't that stuff going to harm all of the natural green plants and waterways?

this stuff is nasty, Liquid calcium chloride
they had to use that hard core stuff here to destroy an inch of ice in near zero temps after a blizzard last year, they could not 'pre-treat' because it rained heavy all day before it turned to blowing snow
at least they left the residential streets to melt the ice naturally for a month

 

i have a lot of good black parts too, wherever the road sand & gravel has NOT hit and bounced off deep underneath, perhaps the limited occasional rocky country road, i cannot believe this frame coating is so thin and weak it cannot resist some low velocity sand hitting and chipping it
must be why the abrasive media blaster has no issue whatsoever taking the 'good' stuff clean off like butter
but when i tried blasting the heavy duty extreme primer i had put on clean metal it took greater efforts to remove it fully
that is how weak this garbage tacoma frame coating is lol

 

@vipapiv thank goodness you sought the advice of the Tacoma forums prior to purchasing. You saved yourself a LOT of heartache.

Here is to good luck finding a cleaner truck!

 

It would come down to just where the Truck was going to live.

In this part of the country if you slack off cleaning and painting the underneath of your truck just one fall I see this every spring.

Rusted seized bolts are the normal things just got much worse when the use of liquid brine started.

No matter where the truck comes from if your in a Winter Chemical state the frame needs attention on a constant basis only the die hard Tacoma owners go that far.

When we still hear someone bought a Tacoma having no idea of the frame issues.

The fact this was a problem across so many years is interesting .

 

Couple comments: I found Colombia SC a good spot for low rust. Got 2 vehicles from that area I am happy with. Not Charlston - too close to ocean. Also being a consistent user of fluid film, I find not only it to be effective for rust control, but everything I have taken apart on my truck comes right apart. no fighting. Didn't need puller on my driveshaft center bearing......

 

Run! Fast!