Well folks, I've been holding off putting up this post as it shows my boneheaded lack of thorough research when I bought my 1997 80 over 6 years ago. I work overseas a lot and haven't done anything to it since my purchase. Drove it from Memphis to north of Seattle back in 2016 to visit family. It ran great on the trip but I decided to have it serviced. Anti-freeze bottle topped off, was empty by the time I got to Eastern Idaho. I've been thinking it has a bad head gasket but I haven't taken time to test it. A pool of anti-freeze on the shop floor tells me it's probably the PHH or another leak and not the HG.
Now to rust. I focused on the idea that coming from Tennessee the frame/body would be fine. While visiting family in Seattle, I closed the right rear passenger door and a piece of undercoating and small piece of metal coated with rubber fell off. Oh great, what do I have here. Checked the glove box. MI, NYC and then TN. My worst nightmare. I received pre purchase photos of the front frame and have since tapped the frame with a hammer and it sounds solid. Entire body is undercoated but I don't know if it was done when the first guy bought it to preserve the rig or the second guy who used it to cover up rust. I'm unable to post files from my work computer so I'll add those later. Hitch is a bit crusty, the 4 holes for a pintle hook show corrosion as well. That should have been my indication to run but I wanted that factory K294 locker option. Another indication, rear quarter window aluminum frames have turned to powder. I haven't put it on a lift to do a good search. Haven't pulled any interior panels to check for rust to interior panels. No other body rust visible from the outside. Interior looks ok, nothing major.
First owner bought it June of 97, Southfield, Michigan. It spent 5 years there but no records. I'm guessing Page Toyota. Then he moved to NYC in 2002 and Toyota of Manhattan performed all of the service work until it was traded/sold in August 2014. Ending mileage: 129,442. Smack dab in the middle of the rust belt. Next owner bought it and took it to Memphis. Sold it to me in June 2016 with 178,101 miles on the clock. 50,000 miles in 2 years means she was on the road a lot. As per Carfax there are 43 service records performed during both ownerships. First owner had it serviced at intervals around 4,000 miles. Second owner, roughly 5,000 miles.
So not a BaT queen but overall she's been taken care of pretty well. Paint in good condition, normal driver seat condition, cracks but no tears. Stored in my unheated shop under a car cover. I did apply leather dressing to the front seats in the hopes of extending their life until I figure what to do.
Not sure if undercoating would be on a service order when purchased or just what. Page Toyota has the vin, person said they'd take a look. I have most of the documents in the glovebox, didn't think to scan to bring with me. Could be undercoating records there, don't recall. Not sure if rusty parts would show up on a service trip. I see nothing.
So who has a crystal ball and can tell me what the condition of my rig is under the undercoating? Yeah, that's about the only thing that comes to mind while sitting at a desk in Kuwait. Trying to tell myself that with all of the service records, there would hopefully be mention of rust and not seeing that, she's just fine. Run her out when you get done over here. Yeah, just bury my head in the sand. Would a dealership annotate rust found during a visit or keep mum so as to not piss off the owner? Who knows, I got nothing. Novel off but thanks anyway. Photos later.
Oh and I recently emailed the seller to see if maybe he'd let me know about rust and coating over it. Didn’t know anything or wouldn’t admit.
Used Word to attach photos. We'll see if it loads.
Now to rust. I focused on the idea that coming from Tennessee the frame/body would be fine. While visiting family in Seattle, I closed the right rear passenger door and a piece of undercoating and small piece of metal coated with rubber fell off. Oh great, what do I have here. Checked the glove box. MI, NYC and then TN. My worst nightmare. I received pre purchase photos of the front frame and have since tapped the frame with a hammer and it sounds solid. Entire body is undercoated but I don't know if it was done when the first guy bought it to preserve the rig or the second guy who used it to cover up rust. I'm unable to post files from my work computer so I'll add those later. Hitch is a bit crusty, the 4 holes for a pintle hook show corrosion as well. That should have been my indication to run but I wanted that factory K294 locker option. Another indication, rear quarter window aluminum frames have turned to powder. I haven't put it on a lift to do a good search. Haven't pulled any interior panels to check for rust to interior panels. No other body rust visible from the outside. Interior looks ok, nothing major.
First owner bought it June of 97, Southfield, Michigan. It spent 5 years there but no records. I'm guessing Page Toyota. Then he moved to NYC in 2002 and Toyota of Manhattan performed all of the service work until it was traded/sold in August 2014. Ending mileage: 129,442. Smack dab in the middle of the rust belt. Next owner bought it and took it to Memphis. Sold it to me in June 2016 with 178,101 miles on the clock. 50,000 miles in 2 years means she was on the road a lot. As per Carfax there are 43 service records performed during both ownerships. First owner had it serviced at intervals around 4,000 miles. Second owner, roughly 5,000 miles.
So not a BaT queen but overall she's been taken care of pretty well. Paint in good condition, normal driver seat condition, cracks but no tears. Stored in my unheated shop under a car cover. I did apply leather dressing to the front seats in the hopes of extending their life until I figure what to do.
Not sure if undercoating would be on a service order when purchased or just what. Page Toyota has the vin, person said they'd take a look. I have most of the documents in the glovebox, didn't think to scan to bring with me. Could be undercoating records there, don't recall. Not sure if rusty parts would show up on a service trip. I see nothing.
So who has a crystal ball and can tell me what the condition of my rig is under the undercoating? Yeah, that's about the only thing that comes to mind while sitting at a desk in Kuwait. Trying to tell myself that with all of the service records, there would hopefully be mention of rust and not seeing that, she's just fine. Run her out when you get done over here. Yeah, just bury my head in the sand. Would a dealership annotate rust found during a visit or keep mum so as to not piss off the owner? Who knows, I got nothing. Novel off but thanks anyway. Photos later.
Oh and I recently emailed the seller to see if maybe he'd let me know about rust and coating over it. Didn’t know anything or wouldn’t admit.
Used Word to attach photos. We'll see if it loads.
