Hello from a newbie and a little rust advice on potential LX in Socal

[xldaddy]

Hi,

I’m looking for an original as possible FJ100 or 80 as a DD, surf wagon and for some camping with the wife. Had a 95 FJ80 15 years ago, probably should have never sold it. Question is, I’m in San Diego and interested in a truck in LA (2001 470), but don’t want to make the trip if the rust on this thing is too bad. Truck spent its entire life in the Midwest and north east. Owner sent one pic, but I can’t tell if it’s no big deal and worth a look or if I should just keep looking for a Socal truck with less or no rust? It’s low miles, clean and seems fairly priced, best I can tell. Again, being from here rust is far from my specialty

Thanks for the help, appreciate any advice?

 

[Julian Stead]

Keep looking

 

[FLWookie]

Looks almost as bad as mine from the NE. Keep looking.

 

[geanes]

That's no good. Hard pass on that.

 

[joseywales]

Definitely keep looking. What are they asking for it? That’s not a California truck, unless it’s been regularly run IN salt water and never rinsed.

 

[YvesNL]

I honestly think it's not that bad, but I'm from the Netherlands, we have a lot of road salt.

The floor board in the picture seems clean, only some pieces on the frame have rust.
And that rust probably has not penetrated deeply.

I think that if you used a needle scaler of some sort and a brush + rust protection (I hear POR15 a lot on ih8mud) you could be finished in a day, or two.

But definitely don't pay top money for it, it must be cheap.

 

[November Sun]

I would pass, that rust is bad enough that I couldn't get over it.

 

[Ager Venator]

Worse than my MD/PA LX470 that I paid 4k for

 

[gatormark91]

You will never turn a bolt on that truck without hating yourself for buying it. Get used to learning (or using) all the tricks for getting broken bolts out if you buy that one.

 

[Ohthetrees]

Pass. There are rust free examples for
Sale all the time. If you do your own work, it is so much nicer to be confident that your bolts will back right out. So many jobs are 20X harder with rusty bolts.

 

[gatormark91]

Also - the bottom of the driveshaft is rusty, but not the top. Which, to me, means it sat somewhere not moving for long enough for that to rust on the bottom, only. If it sat that long, the tires are probably flat-spotted.

 

[ranma21]

It is not the worse, but I will stay away as much as possible and look for a rust free rig, just so much easier to work on rust free clean vehicle.

 

[IamtheBruce]

I'm in SD too and I looked for months-- not one of the LX or LCs I looked at had that much rust. I paid $8700 for a 2000 LX with 174k, which included a timing belt replacement and new pads/rotors all around. Not sure what you consider a reasonable price, but I can tell you from my experience that SoCal prices are all over the map. I saw nearly identical vehicles in terms of mileage and condition priced $5k apart. I wish I had signed up craigslist and AutoTrader alerts but didn't learn that lesson in time and missed out on an LX 3 miles from my house because I was an hour late seeing the ad. The vehicle I eventually bought turned out to be the first one I looked at-- the interior was dirty and the exterior showed some use, so it must have scared some people away. When I finally had the mechanical inspection done it turned out to be in good shape, and the money I saved will pay for the ball joints and tie rod ends it needs now, plus new seat covers from Lseat if I decide to go that route. Good luck with the search. Patience will pay off.

 

[IamtheBruce]

This is an example of the prices being all over the place:

2000 Lexus Lx 470 for $17,900 or
Lexus LX470 Can Be Yours for $6,900

 

[geanes]

This is an example of the prices being all over the place:

2000 Lexus Lx 470 for $17,900 or
Lexus LX470 Can Be Yours for $6,900

I really like that $6900 one. I'd jump on that one if the major considerations checked out. Hard to believe the $11k difference in price between 2 very similar LXs.

 

[IamtheBruce]

I really like that $6900 one. I'd jump on that one if the major considerations checked out. Hard to believe the $11k difference in price between 2 very similar LXs.

Same here. I was tempted to spend $200 on an inspection and if it checked out as a no-rust SoCal DD, ship it to a friend on the east coast to sell there.

 

[xldaddy]

Thanks to everyone for the replies, I will keep looking. He wants $12,000, which in light of your feedback, seems too high. The low miles (118k) made it tempting, but maybe a higher mileage no rust truck is the way to go.

Here’s the link..https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/722863367/overview/?aff=atempest&CMP=atempest

I really appreciate the help, you guys are awesome.

 

[xldaddy]

Also - the bottom of the driveshaft is rusty, but not the top. Which, to me, means it sat somewhere not moving for long enough for that to rust on the bottom, only. If it sat that long, the tires are probably flat-spotted.

Yeah, that looked like a red flag to me too, but I had to double check with you guys. Thx.

 

[xldaddy]

I'm in SD too and I looked for months-- not one of the LX or LCs I looked at had that much rust. I paid $8700 for a 2000 LX with 174k, which included a timing belt replacement and new pads/rotors all around. Not sure what you consider a reasonable price, but I can tell you from my experience that SoCal prices are all over the map. I saw nearly identical vehicles in terms of mileage and condition priced $5k apart. I wish I had signed up craigslist and AutoTrader alerts but didn't learn that lesson in time and missed out on an LX 3 miles from my house because I was an hour late seeing the ad. The vehicle I eventually bought turned out to be the first one I looked at-- the interior was dirty and the exterior showed some use, so it must have scared some people away. When I finally had the mechanical inspection done it turned out to be in good shape, and the money I saved will pay for the ball joints and tie rod ends it needs now, plus new seat covers from Lseat if I decide to go that route. Good luck with the search. Patience will pay off.

That’s a great tip, I hadn’t thought of the alerts and I have seen clean examples only staying on CL for a day before being taken down. There is a lot of beat down trucks out there, I just have to be patient as you said. Thanks, brother.

 

[IamtheBruce]

off topic: what equipment is that in your avatar?