Central Illinois newb first tacoma decision

Greetings all, first time poster, long time lurker. Now can't decide what taco to wrap my head around. The 2000 S-10 / 4cyl/extreme wannabe I've been duct taping the fenders on (color matched of course/ black on black) has finally rusted out the gas line at one spot so it is sitting until I put it down for the count. There in lies the problem, salty roads and not many car washes in my neck of the woods. I keep looking at the over fender plastic pieces on the Tacoma models I find appealing but can't pull the trigger knowing in a few years my truck new or not will end up looking sad with the fenders rusting out since the salt collects in that crevice and gets held onto. Has anyone sealed this up before ? Dumb question probably but my search terms haven't found what to do yet. See you all around and apologies to the guys behind my S-10. That piece that fell off was likely only the duct tape !

 

Welcome man...

Might be thinking of frame rust on a Taco too...

 

Good point, coating the undercarriage was already on my list of things to do. There are a couple fender threads I've seen but nothing short of taking them off would seem to prevent the issue. Hate spending money to just take them off and plug the hole.

 

Welcome!

 

Well I must say that incessant reading of these 3rd gen forum posts has kept me entertained and informed. I've added a few things to my list of we owe you when the truck actually shows up at the dealer. Some items to do when and if it gets home and some future mods as well. Tops on my list will be greasing the muffler bearings and topping off the blinker fluid. Those ideas are fantastic and can't wait to pass them along. Seriously ill do the undercoating spray probably after I get it here and leave it at that till summer providing it makes it before then. Est Feb delivery.

At least the buckets of rock up front of my s10 bed are holding it down till that damn Toyota shows up. Little to no snow yet so it's been pretty salt free on the roads this year.

 

Not sure where you live in Illinois but I am in the Quad City metro area and I know all too well on Illinois love of salt. I think our governors have a back door deal with the salt mob and he gets commission on salt purchases. Back to the issue you are talking about....

I have read countless stories about Tacoma's issues with rusted frames. I am on my 3rd Taco (2007, 2013 and 2016) and I have zero experience with frame/rust issues. Furthermore I never had ANY issues with rust on any body panels. I'm not saying it doesn't happen because I have seen the photos from other TW members, but I haven't experienced any issues. I also haven't experienced a lot of the dreaded 3rd Turd problems that countless people here on TW like to complain about either. For me my '16 has been awesome. IMO these issues are way overhyped and are few and far between.

If you are truly concerned about frame rust there are things you can do to help with the issue. Undercoating/Rustproofing is the easiest. Some dealers offer it at purchase or you can search out a local private company to apply this.

Welcome to the Taco family! Show pics of your new ride when you get it.

 

Nailed on the 2016 due to unforseen financial commitment and rolled the deposit into a 2009 TRD ORD Prerunner DBLcab with 101000 mi that he had online just reduced to 16995. I can fix a lot for the 17000 saved and in a couple years roll the '09 into a '17 with less issues ? Works for now. And my reflective tacoma letters will look sharp when they pop out of the black tailgate at night. So it begins.

 

Congrats on your 2nd gen and welcome to TW!