2005 tacoma 2nd gen terminal frame rot rust cancer

I think my shop did the swap in about three business days, once they had the frame.

Extra time was added as they had to replace some front end pieces not planned on as part of the swap.

There was a wait on getting the replacement frame sourced. At the time, we had independent verification that there was not one shippable frame in the USA (perhaps North America, I don't remember exactly).

 

How in the hell do they get away with this? No loaner? Months waiting to get a frame with the truck flagged so you cant do anything with it until they replace it?
What happens if they flag the frame for a problem then decide its not bad enough to need replaced? You are then stuck in limbo with a truck you cant trade.
Then after waiting all this time and dealing with a frame swap you have the possibility of getting your truck back with no fluids.

 

Loaner cars are at the discretion of individual dealers and not covered under any warranty programs unless you are in the class of BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc.... No where does Toyota state a loaner is an entitlement. Your dealer may offer one as a courtesy and typically, that needs to be booked in advance.

The only way to insure you have a car during extended repairs is to buy rental car coverage through your auto insurance. Be sure to ask that this DOES cover extended repairs and not just accidents or trip breakdowns. Through my insurance, I am covered for up to $45 per day on a rental for a 30 day period. Beyond this, I get a deeply discounted rate out of pocket. But I do pay a couple bucks extra a month for this.

Please don't think you're entitled to a loaner. That is a dealer-optional perk you need to negotiate with your individual dealer. My dealer is always willing to give me a car for a few days but I'm a long-time repeat customer having bought 9 vehicles from them in 13 years (mine, my wife's and my daughter).

Check your insurance and add better rental coverage if needed. It's cheap!

 

Nothing against you but i think we ARE entitled to loaners for situations like this, i know we wont get one but i think we should.
Owner spends tens of thousands on a vehicle, vehicle needs extensive repairs by no fault of the owner. The dealer or toyota corporate should give a loaner along with a nice wad of cash for putting the innocent owner through a clusterfuck.

 

Exactly.

I saw that picture and put a full can in that area using as many of the holes as I could to get everything covered. I plan on hosing out the area and reapplying before the winter this year.

As of 8/6/13, the application of Fluid Film from early December 2012 is still fluid to the touch. My frame has been through a winter and looks factory fresh, albeit dusty/dirty. I do not know what the future will hold, and have resigned that I will probably lose the frame to rust (eventually) but that being said, I'm not going down w/o a fight.

 

I bought brand new back in 2005 because of the reputation of the vehicle essentially going forever.

I'm stuck with a vehicle that I cannot trade or sell (I could probably fool someone on private sale, but that's not ethical), and frankly I don't feel comfortable driving anymore. Every time I hit a rough bump on the road, I wonder if that's going to be the one to fracture the frame or break a rusty weld.

At some point I'll probably take photos of the frame, as well as my rusty garage floor.

 

I have a 2005 too, mine doesnt have cancer yet just some bad surface rust. When the 2013's go on sale at the dealers at the end of the year i might try to trade it for something of else (thinking of a heep)

 

I just put up a post on my frame rust, its an 06 and its in really bad condition. I did not notice any rust until about 6 months ago, i just checked it out and the rear is really bad(probably salt spray) im the second owner and the truck has stayed here in the NY/NJ area so its not in a salt environment like near the shore. Upon further research its apparant that this has been a common problem with Toyotas for many years yet the company chooses to ignore it. Considering they had a major frame recall for 1995-2004 model years you would think the bone heads in corporate would have woke up!!!! Guess again??? Im really pissed because the rest of the truck looks mint underneath.As a side note, it looks like the rust comes through from underneath the paint which obviously doenst help the situation. I dont have any perferations but its pretty unnerving to say the least......One body shop i contacted didnt want anything to do with it because of the liability so i guess im SOL i was gonna scrape the rust and use converter on it but since theres so much rust im wondering if i should get my situation documented some way???

 

Just as an update, I got the call that the new frame was in yesterday. I dropped off the rust bucket this morning...they expect it to take 2-2.5 weeks.

The dealership provided me with a smaller, but newer (2013) loaner Tacoma in the meantime. I asked if they just wanted to swap straight out, but they weren't receptive to the idea

 

Can you post some pics? Is this surface rust or is this the actual recall rusting issue?

If you don't know the difference, the recall is for the separation of the frame parts. The frames were made by pressing two sheets of steel together to make a double-thick frame. The issue within the recall is that the sealant between the two layers was insufficient and the frame rusted from the inside out. It is most evident by looking at the exposed edges of the frame, not the outer surface. You'll see the two actually separating and expanding/bowing. There will eventually be parts that rust through and fall out creating the perforations.

If that isn't the case and this is just surface rust, that is a different issue but I would also agree that even at the surface, these frames should not rust this much, this quickly. Given other manufacturers in my same area (I also live at the seacoast and have salted roads in the winter), the Toyota frames rot much faster than any Nissan, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, GMC..... etc....

We can all "work with" surface rust, but if it is between the sheets, we're doomed.... you cannot seal or fix that crap!

 

Man... I hate to read that you are having to rework a 2012 truck already! That sucks!!

I'm considering taking my bed off completely and hitting the frame from all angles.

 

I picked up a 2009 a few weeks ago and I didn't even look at the frame when I was looking at the truck. Never thought a 5 year old truck would have frame rust issues, but it does... I looked and it's covered in surface rust and has some black paint still, but wtf. My 1999 4runner frame looks 10 times better and that thing has been wheeled to hell and back and been completely submerged under water for a while...

I guess this one won't be my forever truck either...

 

Do you have any pics of yours?

This is my '07, also an Alberta truck.

 

I've been lurking on this forum for awhile and want a white DCSB TDR off road bad. There's 06 on CL 90,000 miles. Now I'm starting to read about 05 & 06s with frame rot. It's unbelievable after all the problems with 1st geners that Toyota can't get the backbone of one of their most profitable products right.

What percentage of 05+ tacos suffer from the frame rot problem?

 

these issues are just becoming evident now in the 05-06 year trucks. it's the early days. "number of TW members who don't have the issue" is not a valid data point as far as I'm concerned, no offense to DoorDing.

DoorDing said, "If you can, please get some photos of the old frame once it's removed" -- for those who have not seen them my exposed frame photos are at posts #307 and 311 in this thread; I've posted other photos too (original issue and after the swap).

Like I said, it took about 3 business days for our shop to do the swap. Have they explained why yours is going to take so long?

You might consider shopping around for these (or whatever the appropriate one for your truck is) and having them replaced now. We didn't expect that and were informed that they needed to be replaced and were not covered under the terms of the swap. If I had more time I could have sourced them for less money than the shop charged but considering the scale of the no-cost job we couldn't complain too much.

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as someone else recommended, you want to be sure that they are going to replace "All of the mounts to the frame - engine, body, crossmembers, etc."

If they have the frame on-site and are telling you it could be 2.5 weeks I think they owe you an explanation for the delay / length of time.

 

"laminated frame " is this the problem - solid steel vs laminated ? Back in the day when I had Dodge's the body would rot out but not the frame. BTW the Slant 6 was bullet proof like our 2.7's. I always wondered if that's why they stopped selling the Slant 6 - you didn't have to buy another until the body got so bad it wasn't worth the effort.

 

My 09 frame is rusted pretty bad...

 

your reasoned approach to these matters is always appreciated.

 

Just took mine in this morning frame is rotting, flaking, and cracking in the same place as op, also has frame sepperation in the C channel area. They took pictures and sent then along with a letter to corporate and where told nothing is being done on the 2005's yet. They also told me the more people complain or have the problem the more likely Toyota will take action.

 

i keep re-spraying mine every year and every year the rust keeps coming through. i think maybe after the winter i will make an appt with Toyota to show them everything i'm doing is not helping just so i can have it made aware in Toyota's system again.