Something every pickup/4runner owner will deal with eventually

[Oddball]

I took the heater box out to do a small patch. And well, one thing lead to another. I got a lot done before the mosquitos kicked me out of my own garage. And I thought the drivers side was worse...Unless you live in california, chances are this will happen to you eventually. And if its bad enough on the drivers side, It will short out your fuse box.

 

[Clb]

I live in the prk
Discussion on rust halting coatings time?!

 

[grapehead]

What are we looking at here? What's the cause?

 

[FleshEater]

What are we looking at here? What's the cause?

Looks like a rotten firewall/fender well. Probably rain leaking in.

 

[Clb]

What are we looking at here? What's the cause?

Umm
Toyoda?

 

[rockota]

sunroof truck? Plugged drains?

 

[Wizzle]

Thought this would be about frame swaps… I’ll take heater box over frame swap any day

 

[Oddball]

What are we looking at here? What's the cause?

Ill get a few more pics tomorrow to show you the before. Basically, behind the fender, where the cowel meets the A pilar and firewall, there are several pinch welds and factory seam sealer. Well the sealer gets old and fails. Then water gets in and rusts. The first real sign is a wet floor. By that point its all down hill. The floor starts to rust and rots out the body mount area.

 

[Oddball]

So here is the drivers side with the fender removed. The last pic is looking from inside above the fuse box.

 

[Oddball]

sunroof truck? Plugged drains?

No sunroof. 2wd pickup

 

[TRINDU]

My 2nd and 3rd gen look pristine. Guess I look into it in another 30+ years

 

[Oddball]

My 2nd and 3rd gen look pristine. Guess I look into it in another 30+ years

I guarantee all the seam sealer is dried up, shrunken and cracked. I'm on the west coast of Canadastan, summers have highs of 86 plus and winters are down below freezing with everything in between. It's a rain forest. The heat destroys the seam sealer and the rain destroys the metal. 30 years..that's pretty optomistic, the ways things are going.

 

[slimbobaggins]

I've got water on the floors of my 87 and plenty of rust around the windshield, haven't had time to pull it apart yet to look for holes. Thanks for posting this, now I know where to look.

 

[osv]

as long as you are in there you should probably check the inside of the door pillars just above that area you listed... they rot out pretty badly on the earlier trucks, even in california.

 

[Oddball]

as long as you are in there you should probably check the inside of the door pillars just above that area you listed... they rot out pretty badly on the earlier trucks, even in california.

Will do. So far it's all in the pinch welds around the firewall and cowel. I dread the thought of digging into that can of worms. I went up into the windshield area and it's layer after layer. At some point I have to determine when to stop and regain my sanity.

 

[TRINDU]

I guarantee all the seam sealer is dried up, shrunken and cracked. I'm on the west coast of Canadastan, summers have highs of 86 plus and winters are down below freezing with everything in between. It's a rain forest. The heat destroys the seam sealer and the rain destroys the metal. 30 years..that's pretty optomistic, the ways things are going.

You couldn't be more wrong. My '84 waiting for an engine transplant. This truck is 100% rust free.

 

[TRINDU]

My '92 with 250k is pristine as well. Let me know if you want to eat jelly

 

[Oddball]

You couldn't be more wrong. My '84 waiting for an engine transplant. This truck is 100% rust free.

Mine looked just like that from the top side. Wrong about what exactly? My statement was that heat destroys seam sealer. I said nothing about your truck being rusty. I don't give a shit about some random in texas. My info is aimed to help, but so far all it has done is draw out the pompous.

 

[bdkw1]

On my 87, the windshield guy joked that he was going to charge extra for all the urethane to fill the rust holes. And that was 15 years ago on a Komifornia truck.

 

[Oddball]

On my 87, the windshield guy joked that he was going to charge extra for all the urethane to fill the rust holes. And that was 15 years ago on a Komifornia truck.

All it takes is one hack to replace the windshield for the rust to start. It was common for the shield to be hacked out with power tools and knives leaving a bunch of gouges that need to be painted. As far as firewall rot, I've been thinking that chassis/frame flex plays a large role in loosening up the seams. The entire front clip hangs off the firewall and is supported by two mounts at the front. Toyota calls it a unibody on frame, insinuating possibly that the body helps with rigidity. Who knows, just speculating now.

 

[grapehead]

Mine looked just like that from the top side. Wrong about what exactly? My statement was that heat destroys seam sealer. I said nothing about your truck being rusty. I don't give a shit about some random in texas. My info is aimed to help, but so far all it has done is draw out the pompous.

Because your thread is clickbaity. Panicky headline, minimal info. Better suited to instasnap

 

[Oddball]

Because your thread is clickbaity. Panicky headline, minimal info. Better suited to instasnap

Excuse me for not being boring. It left you interested enough to click. So ya it worked to bait the simps. There is plenty of info here for anyone with an attention span.