My 2005 Tacoma Doesn't Have Any Frame Rust

After reading some of the threads about frame rust I starting getting a little nervous about my truck. I crawled under there last night and took a good look around. Much to my relief the frame looked great, couldn't find a spec of rust anywhere on the frame.

My question is, should I be worried about future rust? I'm the second owner, I purchased the truck in 2014. The previous owner bought the truck in 2005 from a dealer in Reno, Nevada and then moved to Spokane, Washington at some point.

I live near Seattle where it rains a lot. Should I being putting Fluid Film or some other type of treatment on my frame? Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Rainwater I wouldn't worry about, it's the chemical corrosive shit they use to melt ice in winter that will do a frame in. If you drive in that stuff a lot, definitely do something about it. I try and wash my truck weekly during the winter here.

 

As stated above, I would not worry about rain, the frame has drain holes in it allowing for water to drain. However salt and other ice melting products are highly corrosive and prolonged exposure will cause rust. The best defense is treating your rust proactively if you have it. I am not sure about fluid-film, I personally haven't used it, it seems like it would trap more salt?

 

Same here. Plenty of humidity combined with heat down here in GA. My 07 with 100K miles is not even dirty underneath, let alone rust. It rarely goes off of pavement though, mostly used as a DD and highway towing.

 

Another thing I do for extra measure is stick the high pressure nozzle into the drain holes on my frame and hose it out real good about once every 4 months. Little precautionary measures like this go a long way.

 

You are a lucky duck OP. Has to be because WA doesnt use salt on their roads, or depending on where you are, maybe they never see snow/ice. Did the frame recall even make it to your state?

 

WA is one of the states that qualify. My understanding is out in Eastern Washington they salt and spray deicer somewhat but not like the other parts of the country. Where I live north of Seattle we don't get much snow. Last winter it only snowed once and was gone in two days. Every five or ten years we get a big snowfall or cold snap. In the winter of 1996 we got over 5 feet of snow that accumulated in the course of a week.

 

Don't do anything. My old 2006 Tacoma and 2005 Tundra that spent their lives in Seattle area were absolutely spotless and looked better than a new truck underneath. Just drive it around on the rainy days to rinse it lol. After 110k miles my Tundra was so clean you could flip it over on its top and serve dinner off of it. Western WA has some of the best used cars in the country, not surprising that dealers buy here and ship to other parts of the country to resell.

 

I had a 1998 Tacoma, when I lived out west I never had any rust either, that was for 15yr
Moved to the east coast and it stated rusting the first yr here.

So when I bought my 2015, I drove home and gave it a good fluid flim treatment when it had 9 miles on the odometer. Going to spray it again soon.

 

Thanks for the advice, I feel fortunate my frame looks so good.