Rust Recall Lemon

I stupidly bought a 2000 Tundra, without getting a pre inspection. When I glanced at the undercarriage, I didn't see the holes. I didn't see the sling holding up the fuel tank. I didn't see the rusted brake lines, the small holes in the bed. The list goes on.

The frame is free. That's all that's covered, since there are aftermarket suspensions parts installed by the previous owner(s).

It has 150k miles. I paid $3k. I'll have to pay another $10k out of pocket to cover what the recall won't.

Should I cut my losses?

Thanks,
Depressed in NY

 

They are still replacing frames? I thought this recall was closed

What’s your plans if u keep it? Plan to own it long term? How’s the body as far as rust, paint condition, dents/damage? Is it a color u wanted?

 

For 1st gens, yes. In cold climate states.

 

see edited post above.

 

Not too many dings and dents. It was definitely in some sort of mild fender bender, the drivers side rubs on the tire if making a sharp turn. But you can't even see it unless you're looking for a dent. I'd be painting it black, upgrading the interior a bit, new radio etc, add a backup camera. Nothing crazy.

But if it won't last another 200k, and I cant stop the spread of rust in the bed, I'd rather cut my losses. The body has no rust otherwise though.

Looking for a used vehicle has been like pulling teeth. All junk. In NYC at least.

 

I’d get a compression test done. If the numbers check out, I’d take it out for 1 day and beat the hell out of the engine and tranny. Find out now if it has a problem or weakness. If it holds up, give er’ all the love and you probably have a great truck for many years to come with a brand new frame.

 

10k your cost for extras? The recall will cover brake lines and lower control arms. The dealer just has to not be lazy and file for them. Not sure on tank straps. But I have a feeling they’d be covered if the filed for them too… Toyota only releases parts AS NEEDED for these 00-02 recalls. As for shocks, leaf’s, exhaust, upper arms,ball joints? That’s up to the owner of the vehicle .


We just did one at work a month ago. New arms and lines with the frame. Guy declined extras Toyota didn’t cover. So it left with a blown transmission and 2 seized calipers.. but it did leave on all 4 wheels

 

Do you work at a dealership? I entered my vin into Toyota Owner's and I don't see any records of recall being done but it also shows there isn't anything due... I have a 2001 how do I confirm if the recall was ever done on my vehicle or not.

 

Sorry for your situation, OP, but only being out 3k isn’t as bad as some guys have had.

All the info you need on the recall is here.

 

Supposedly, safety recalls never close. At least two other members in KY have had their frames replaced in the past year. But it may also be a 'campaign' vs. a 'recall'.

If you've ever had a frame treatment done, or even an inspection of the frame done, or any recall work done, it should be in the service records at the Toyota Owners site. No service records = nothing done.

First off, welcome to the forum, and read the first two posts in this thread if you haven't, it should help.

Re: That $10k number, where the hell is that coming from? If Toyota is offering a frame swap, we had one of our KY members actually give parts to the dealership to install. You can get pre-loaded Bilstein (Toyota used Bilstein and KYB, to my knowledge) shocks and struts for them to install. I can see the dollar amount coming in at more like $4k-$6k, which IMO is totally worth it on these trucks, but ... yeah, I dunno.

Can you give us an itemized of that $10k so we can tell you what's bullshit and what's not, give you advice on how to get that cost down?

Rubbing could be due to aftermarket suspension or wheel and tire combo the previous owner used. Too-large tire and/or weird wheel offset/backspace, and/or bad lift bending a steering knuckle, or whatever... all those things could cause rub.

If you're repainting because the paint is hazy, know that Toyota was still using single-stage paints on non-metallic trucks, and single stage paints can be buffed out far cheaper and way more easily than repainting. The thread I linked has more info.

Rust in the bed: Just find a new bed. You may need to drive a ways to get it, but they're out there. It's a pretty easy swap to make.

And if you start hunting, your best bet is probably to look south. We have tons of rust-free 1st gen Tundras down here at reasonable prices. But you won't get one for $3k

 

I'm really curious about that also.

 

The part that rubs is definitely due to a dent, I knew about that already, heard it when I test drove. It's not much of a concern, I just wanted a knockaround truck. Mind you, I didn't feel any of these issues during the test drive, only after my mechanic put it on his lift, I guess everything settled, and then the brakes started banging, and the whole truck started creaking. I did know it needed an alignment, and belt/tensioner. Squeals like crazy.


Keep in mind, I'm in NY, the Toyota service center here charges $160+ an hour. Average mechanic charges a little over $100 anyway.

I included a breakdown. The portion in yellow is what I don't "need" to be done by Toyota. The exhaust system can be fabbed by shops where I am, and the power locks and dash lights I was going to take care of myself. I'm sure I could handle the belt and tensioner, etc as well. The flange looks like it's about to fall apart, as does the piping and the muffler. Really the whole truck is just in terrible shape underneath. All the prices are for parts and labor using OEM parts. Everything on the list was shown to me. I wanted to jump off the roof when I saw the state of it on the lift.

If they're willing to use aftermarket, I'm fine with that, the truck is 20 years old and I didn't intend for it to be anything other than a weekend/side-job truck. But the more I started surfing this forum and others, the more I thought of ways to upgrade and modify it, especially the interior.

I'm not against cutting my losses. But if compression test is good, and the engine is a good as it sounds and feels, I'm alright tossing in a few thousand. Just not ten.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

Bejesus! What are you buying, the CATs too? How do you even know they're bad?

 

Valve cover gaskets are a DIY, you're looking at under $100 in parts and 1-2 hours work. I ordered direct from Toyota this info, see for yourself:

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Replace rear driveshaft... why? Is it really rusted out that bad, to the point it's out of balance?

eBrake parts are also something very DIY-able that will cost you a fraction of what's quoted there.

Rack & pinion, most people don't want to do, OEM costs a pretty penny, you're out $650-850 on parts, and it's really only if you need it. Do you really need it? You can get the price down a couple hundred buying a quality aftermarket, NOT the bullshit your local auto parts store is selling.

Lower control arms ... same story as rack & pinion. While I won't normally tell people to use 3rd party, supposedly NAPA lower control arms are ok. Whatever you do, if someone is changing the lower balljoints, always go OEM on those. It's the one suspension/drivetrain part you cannot fuck around with aftermarket.

Front sway bar (stabilizer) links, for good aftermarket, maybe $150 and it'll take you 15 minutes to change out each side, max, with basic tools.

Belt, tensioner, pulley is likely timing belt. It's important, these trucks have an interference engine and if it snaps, there's a good chance the engine is toast. But they should be adding water pump. $1350 is average what they charge down here using OEM parts, but it would include the water pump. You can find shops that'll do it cheaper, supposedly, but good luck finding anyone to do the work for less than $800 with parts, and you only want to use Aisin (the OEM supplier) for parts.

Brakes, rotors, shoes, drums, you can find a local shop to do half that price, even if new calipers are involved.

From my perspective, everything that's in white vs. yellow, there's no reason that couldn't be half what it is. Someone is nickel-and-diming you.

And that "complete exhaust system" bullshit is a joke.

I get the feeling someone is trying to get out of doing the work, takes you for a sucker, wants you to get rid of the truck, or some combo of the three.

 

Can you turn some wrenches?! That estimate is downright laughable! As in I would laugh in their faces after handing me that estimate!

Yeah, what @shifty` said!

 

Sell that thing now

 

I don't know if that exhaust system quote includes it. The guy knows that's out of the question and will try to remove it in one piece. I'm not concerned about that, it's absolutely out of the question and I don't consider it part of the quote, since right off the bat we talked about getting any exhaust work done elsewhere.

The brake lines are shot, rusted to hell, in some places crimped. There was suspension and brake work done on it that looks like hell, using aftermarket parts. Basically a shit show under there. The quote for the front lower control arms are because he might not be able to get them out without damaging them, but will try. As a rule, I never believe more than 10% of what mechanics tell me, of course.

 

Yes but I am not getting under the truck. 2 herniated discs that if get any worse, will put me out of work for at least a month.

 

Does it currently pass inspection? If it does, you may just want to drive it. Just my 2¢.

Some folks have commented that they went to another dealership after getting an outrageous quote from the 1st, and shopping around got the price down significantly.

 

No it won't pass, but I could always get a guy to give a BS inspection.

 

Yeah, the Toyota exhaust is all bolted together and each CAT includes the exhaust pipe for the 02 downstream sensors and the section that connects to the resonator/muffler section. They're $2500 each, so even if you go elsewhere, make sure they can weld to the existing CATs since they're expensive and don't really go bad that easily. If they say they can't weld to them, don't believe it and go elsewhere because they're probably trying to sell their own cheap CAT replacement.

 

Shitty part about this situation is, if it's eligible (and approved) for a frame recall already, you're basically sitting on a full-value truck again, with a frame that's gonna last another decade or more if you treat it. All you'd need is (per your words) a new bed.

The dumb part is, and maybe @Tundra2 and @NickB_01TRD can speak to it because they had theirs replaced, I think the dealership *HAS* to pull some of the parts off to do the job, so I'm not sure why they're charging you extra.

Again, I can't imagine this should cost you more than $4k-6k to get the new frame underneath the truck, with you supplying any critical parts.

When @Tundra2 got his frame swapped, I seem to recall the dealership called him a couple of times to say this-or-that broke, and see what he wanted to do. You're bound to get some of that too.

 

I told them I'll have an answer in a few days. I'm going to ask if they're fine with me supplying aftermarket parts where they can be used. ANything that can be done without lying on my back for an hour, I'll take care of myself. Just worried about something "accidentally breaking" during the swap, out of spite.

Something about the Tundra, I don't want to give up, i don't know why. It isn't even 4x4. I blame Scotty Kilmer and his enthusiasm.

 

Almost all of the junkyard 1GTs I see are crashed in the front, so there's lots of good beds out there if you're willing to hunt on car-part.com for a color-matched one and then go get it.

 

Shifty is making a good point. If you are mechanically inclined you can do most of this yourself. He is right about the timing belt! It's important mine snapped after a week or two when i bought it last June. Finally got around to fixing it and it inoly cost me ~$200 using the Aisin kit he mentioned. Since it is not your daily driver i encurage DIYing this while belt is in tact. Tons of great videos and resources for this job.

I don't know what it entails about fixing the frame rust issues. Maybe Toyota can fix it for free or cheap. As for everything else on the list I imagine you can get away with getting all fixed as long as you are willing to do some of the labor yourself or with friends for under 3k

Breaks can totally be DIY as well. Likely can get decent rotors for cheap if you want to save on not going OEM or find parts at salvage yards or ebay take offs.

Between those two points you're already saving 3K

 

This truck will be a lot of work and pain. And money. Be sure you want to go down that road. Even if you can do the repairs, the time and money may not make it worth it in the end. Sounds like every major system is failing on the truck due to rusting out. Hard road ahead if you proceed.

 

I absolutely have the skills to work on a truck, just next to zero knowledge. Construction, plumbing, fire sprinklers for 12 years.

Toyota is replacing the frame for free. The add-ons related to the process are what the estimate is for.

I'm seeing that. Worried the rust has spread all over, but isn't visible yet. Even the tech handling the project didn't see the holes in the bed. They're big enough to shove an index finger through. It has a liner, so it was covered up.

 

100% understand! I was so bummed that mine wasnt running 2 weeks after I got it (before i even got to register it) but I couldn't give up and I am glad I didn't. 1st Gen Tundras do have something special and I don't know what yet. I am sure the folks here do!

 

Oh if they are replacing the frame for free anyway a lot of these parts are going to be off the truck like shifty said and the labor cost shouldn't be more than an hour + parts for those items. It would literally be a scam if they are charging you full book labor for a part they are taking off and putting back on anyway. I guess keep that in mind good luck! I am excited for you. Excited to see the out come... also do you have any photos?

 

No, I never took any, and the craigslist ad has long since been deleted. Literally had it 2 days before trying to get it inspected, discovering the recall, then bringing it to Toyota.