Frame undercoating per Toyota notice....info

I received a notification from Toyota to have my frame checked, if bad replace it, if good, the dealer undercoats it for free. Sounds good right, here are some details.

About a year ago I took my truck to be fluid filmed, about 6-8 weeks later, it was all gone! We had a driving rain and I drove in it, fluid film all washed off! I never run my truck through a carwash, so no, I never get an undercarriage blast. I know there's a big following on here of fluid film, but this is my experience with it. A few months later I noticed that my control arms were really rusty, I had to crawl under the truck and spray paint them black.

Fast forward to last week..... I crawl under the truck and there is absolutely NO SIGN of fluid film anywhere, my only hope is that its deep inside the important places. I take my Toyota notice to my stealership last week and they are going to evaluate my frame. He comes back and says the frame is in good shape, as I expected, I only have 36,000 on my 2014. I expressed my concern that they CRC undercoating may not stick because of my previous fluid film application to which he replies "fluid film is what we use too".

So this makes me wonder.... Fluid film is only supposed to be good for a year after which it needs to be reapplied. So basically, assuming that it doesn't wash off a second time, the protection that the dealer is offering is only a temporary 1 year protection. If our frames were going to rust away, protected or not by this notice, the problem will most likely still occur.

 

lets see the rusty lower arms

 

I work at a dealership. We / they do not use Fluid Film. But remember, the latest service process only coats the inside of the boxed frame sections.

 

My rusty lower arms were painted a while back, I’ll have to look at them again. I know the bottom of the Bilsteins looked really bad too last I looked.

As far as undercoating, the dealer specifically said that Fluid Film is what they are using. Who knows. Glad you mentioned inside only or I’d be looking for a it everywhere! He told me originally that they had to order the plastic plugs. Why would they need plugs if they were only doing the inside of the boxed rails?

 

The plugs go in holes stamped in the frame that allow water and salt to enter the boxed sections.

 

A friend of mine uses POR-15 to paint the entire frame! Not sure if that includes the inside.

Question about the plastic plugs: don’t you want the Mose holes to be open so any water inside the frame can evaporate?

 

Good question, but don't worry. They're not air tight.