Rusted Engine Bolts

Aint that the truth.. People on here sure do freak out a lot over surface rust

 

great thanks. Is this a liquid or a paste?

 

am I overreacting? Getting a lot of mixed messages. Some say it’s terrible how much rust is on my engine, others think no big deal. Don’t know what to think. But I’ve never had previous vehicles rust like this.

 

I live in Hawai'i across the street from the ocean. My bolts are still looking new. Going on 4 years.

 

Lol that’s nothin. My truck is almost 20 years old in the salt belt. Sure I’ll break bolts every once and a while when trying to fix things but that engine bay looks like surface rust only. Give it a good wash once every month or two and I’m sure it’ll be fine. No need to spend a fortune on specialty products or detaining.

 

It’s liquid.

 

OP: Was that a new truck when you bought it? Or did the dealer test drive it on the beach?

I have over 45k now on my 2017, and live near the Mojave- we have salty dry lakes Ive driven by, and a few winter drives on snow in Nevada and Utah where they did salt the roads and mine isn’t doing that at all. Just curious if someone may have test driven it on the beach or if it was a eastern truck before you got it. Check CarFax...

 

Wow... that’s worse than a lot of 5 year old trucks up in Chicago...

 

nope. Bought it brand new. In fact had to order from the factory so it was never even on the lot.

But I have gone to Mojave often. Maybe I should have been rinsing all that salty dust off more often

 

Another data point for ya. '04 2.7 that lives 1/2 mi from the ocean in SoCal and I have literally never washed/sprayed the engine room but I think your bolts are more rusted than mine. Last pic is the worst rust I could find under the hood.

 

My opinion: people on this forum overreact like crazy when it comes to rust

That being said, if you do decide to do something as far as a rust treatment, it cant hurt. Bare minimum giving the truck, frame, and engine bay a rinse down with clean fresh water every once in a while is probably a good idea. Especially after a visit to the beach

 

I received my TRD Pro on 1/20/20 and crawled under it this weekend to do the AC drain mod. I already see rust on bolts and some stamped components underneath. I am in the northeast and I have 1400 miles so far though I did not drive in the rain or snow due to COVID; just local driving. To me, it seems Toyota cheapened out on some parts and fasteners which will cost the owners in repairs down the road. If I get a chance, I will snap some pictures. Maybe the OP and I have an expectation that a $45K truck might not start rusting in the first year.

 

Your expectation is incorrect, unfortunately.

 

Here's my annoyance and why I have the expectation; I take super care of my vehicles. I came from a 99 Jeep Grand Cherokee and at about 100K miles many things started to fail that you can't maintain. Every electronic sensor was eventually replaced, including the ECU at some point. After the electronic stuff started to fail, lots of stamped steel parts cracked from rust. When you live in the northeast, you have to expect that; however, when you look at how Jeep made some parts, you have to wonder if the engineers even thought about it at all. One part for example, called the Coil Sprint Mount is actually a small cup that catches water and rusts out over time. The solution? Replace the rear end completely, or weld some aftermarket redesigned stuff in it's place.

At 144K miles on the Jeep, I bought my Taco and I expect to have this vehicle for a very, very long time. I would have expected that Toyota would spend just a little more for fasteners that don't rust, or they could slap some paint as rust protection on some stamped small parts for $45K. Not a big ask in my opinion.

Rant over...