Gas tank falls out

Has anyone else had this experience: Got the recall notice for frame rust for my 2007 Tundra. Dealer said rust wasn't bad enough to require replacement. Three weeks later the gas tank fell out on the road. Repair shop said the frame part that holds the tank straps rusted through. Is this common? This Tundra only has 65,000 miles. I regularly had it washed in the winter including underbody spray. I've been waiting two weeks for the new frame part to arrive. Very disappointing.

 

You need to treat the underside with an oily product every year. Known, motor oil, transmission fluid, fluid film are examples

 

Id take it back to the dealer that said it wasnt rusty enough for a new frame.

 

This ^^^^

 

Stealerships have a deal with Toyota and don't make their standard hourly rate for fixing recalls. I suspect you were turned away simply because it s wasn't profitable enough the dealer. Replacement shouldn't be a question now that the gas tank has your point for you.

 

the rust recall is literally to prevent that. They should take care of it or this is lawsuit material.

 

Damn everyone with NE trucks need to inspect their straps now, gas tank falling out sounds awful, could cause a huge fire/explosion

 

I know this is kind of old but to the original poster what did you end up doing? I have the same issue with my 2008. They did the frame coating 2 years ago and most of it is flaking off now. The rear Gas tank mount is hanging on by a thread.

 

Old Thread but yeah same thing happened to me except I just bought the truck from a Dealer one town over. (for 14K) Beautiful looking and running truck, smooth not a rattle in it, not a drop of fluid leaking and motor smooth as a sewing machine with only 84 K on it. I put less than 300 miles on it from purchase and hear rubbing scraping noise. The rear gas tank strap mounting point had rusted off on the driver side and had swung down and was rubbing on the driveshaft. The rear of the gas tank had dropped about 12 inch's. The only thing holding it up was front strap and filler neck. If I had had a full tank of gas when it happened it well may have hit the deck.

I strapped it up with a ratchet strap and took it into the local Toyota dealer. They looked at it and said they cannot replace just the rusted out crossmember they have to replace the whole frame even though the crossmember is available as a replacement part (liability??). Told me the truck had been in for corrosion prevention recall in OCT 2019 (at a different dealer) and had some frame plugs put in and inside of the front frame rails sprayed with anti corrosion material.

Price quoted to fix was $3637 .92 for frame, replacement rear springs and Hardware $2138.92 (optional but suggest it be done at this time). a couple hundred for fluids and miscl. bolts
Total Parts: $6673.94 and then 70 hrs shop time for another $7700.00 in labour.

Grand Total about $14,373.94
**If I opted to not replace rear springs Grand Total of: $12,235.02

They said my vehicle had passed the 12 yr. extended warranty on March 02, 2020.(12 yrs since date first put into service per terms of class action lawsuit) So they said there was nothing they could do to help me out, but I could call Toyota Corporate to see if they would do anything...long story short they basically said tough shit we are not going to do anything but thanks for reporting your concerns...

So a body shop guy I know gave me a referral to a shop nearby and said he might be able to help me out. Took it in, he looked it over and said Toyota dealer saying a new frame was necessary was BS the main rails were good and solid and so were the other crossmembers. (The undercarriage really doesn't look that bad, 70% of it is still firmly encapsulated by some kind of coating and the main frame pieces are not anywhere near rusted through so not sure why Toyota said it couldn't be replaced...only thing I can think of is liability concerns) He said it looked like about a 10 hour job to pull the bed, gastank, and lift up the cab a couple of inch's for clearance, cut out the rivets, pull the old crossmember and put in a new crossmember secured with class 8 hardware.

I found the crossmember online and ordered it for $357.00 delivered to my door.
His labour charge right at $700.00.

Total $1057.00

I'll clean up the rust on the frame, hit it with some Ospho, sp ray it with encapsulating paint and then a oil coating. If I can hold the rust at bay and get five or six years out of it I won't feel like I got F@#Ked to badly.

End of my sad tale!

 

That's crazy. Did he say how difficult it was to cut/pop the crossmember rivets out? I'm about to do the same and fabricate a spare tire crossmember, since can't seem to find one anywhere. Did you replace with an OEM or aftermarket/frame repair crossmember? Where did you find it? Appreciate the story...seems that many of us are in the same boat...at least poring money in this feels like I own a boat.
Thx,
Dan

 

Own a 2008 Tundra. Bought used from neighbor who was original owner. Was great until a few years ago. Have had to replace AC evaporator, significant brake work, dealer blew me off on frame rust recall, and now the rear gas tank strap has rusted through as you all describe above. Love the Tundra concept, but what a piece of crap to own! Also own Honda and Acura vehicles. Even a Honda outboard. No where near the corrosion issues as this Toyota. No more Toyotas for me!

 

It's a Land Yacht

 

15yo vehicle in the rust belt? most are probably in the crusher years ago. It is not just toyota.

 

My 2007 has zero frame rust and both gas tank straps rusted through 2 yrs ago or so. Pretty easy diy fix under $100.

 

If your truck's fuel tank strap rusted through a few years ago, either you or your neighbor (both probably) were completely negligent in taking care of the truck. Someone ignored salt corrosion for 12 years while living in New Jersey of all places, someone also didn't inspect underneath the truck when they bought it, and now you want to call the truck a piece of crap. Lololol.

 

And it's 1 of 1 post. LOL

 

It's like someone searched for something on Google, clicked the first result, registered, and will probably never come back ever again!

 

Oh yah he gone

 

Went and bought a F150 instead - can't run out of gas if it don't run!

Or would a Ram make more sense, gas tank won't fall off if it's always empty?