Carvana 2012 Tacoma from Penn... rust?

Just picked up a 2012 Tacoma SR5 4x4 with 22,000 miles on it. It's originally from Pennsylvania and has some rust on the under carriage. Is this normal wear and tear? Or is it road salt and ice damage?

Anybody got pics of their 2012-14 that I could compare?

 

i cant speak too much for rust belt norms since I'm down in Georgia but one thing I would check is up near the boxed portion of the frame by the cat converters. That seems to be the trending area for the bad frame rot to occur, in conjunction with salt brine or whatever getting in there and the heat exposure speeding up the rusting process. I'd take a hammer or something and test the integrity in that area. Make sure you don't see or feel a bunch of flaking frame pieces or holes up in that area.

 

Where you at in Georgia? I'm in Decatur. Just picked up the truck today and the first question I asked was "where's this truck from?" God dang Pennsylvania. Road salt city. I'm wondering if the rust is salt damage or nothing to worry about.

 

In live in pa. Plenty of salt. Mine is a 13 with just under 60k miles. I don't have much rust on mine.

 

I'm over in the Augusta area currently.

If it's just surface rust you can just wire wheel it down and probably hit it with some POR15.

 

Moondeath- do you mind posting photos of your u-joint? I'd like to see what normal wear-n-tear looks like on a PA driven truck.

If anybody drives a truck from south of Kentucky, can y'all post some pics?

 

Mine is a 13 from NJ. I'm the second owner and mine isn't far off from that. I've noticed my exhaust has more rust than most tacomas.

 

Currently covered in salt, so they look dirtier than normal.

Carrier bearing




Muffler and rear end.

 

Thanks dude.. looks like mine is pretty crusty and rusty comparatively.

 

It does, but luckily it just looks like it is surface rust or on non important pieces. I would check up through the frame to see how it is. Probably never really washed much and may have been sitting for awhile considering how crusty the exhaust is. I recommend you get in the habit of washing the undercarriage a couple times a month during the winter. Any cheap automatic car wash with undercarriage washes will do. Come summer time, you can clean some of the rust off and paint it.

Still stock OEM 2008 muffler for rust comparison. Living in a midwest salty state. Took the pic a couple days ago for another thread.

 

No problem. Don't worry about the exhaust being rusty, that's normal. It isn't a protected surface nor is it stainless steel, so it's gonna rust. Like @ABNFDC said, the frame is what you really want to check.

 

My concern is that whatever road salt solution or brine rusted these components got into an area that I can't see. I'd hate to buy a "new" truck and then have rust issues down the line, especially after the extended warranty lapses. I'm thinking about sending it back to Carvana.

 

Well. I sent the truck back. If anybody wants a '012 Tacoma Access Cab SR5 4WD in Micah Silver... check out Carvana in a couple of days.