Terminal Subframe Corrosion - '63 Plate

[TonyHSD]

19 minutes ago, CaptainBogs said:

Hi Mojo - i think that is the route i am going to take. I'm not hopeful, but if i can at least get them to replace the rear frame that'll save me the job down the road. It's the least they can do!! If i get any updates I'll update this post incase anybody finds themselves in a similar situation.

Thanks for the tips Tony, going forward i think i'll run it through the carwash it every week or two for the undercarriage spraydown - this a good idea? (I'm not to worried about the paint - perk of living in cornwall is gnarly hedgerash down the left side...!). I do quite high mileage, about 20k a year - salt will be impossible to avoid sadly but hopefully a regular washing schedule will help lessen the impact of that.

Definitely a proper car washes done more often help the best to preserve the car. I am also a high miles driver (30-50k per year) I drive in the worst winter conditions, my office is next to a large salt depot, probably one of the largest in the country as it serves M25 north side and A1M . During nights and early mornings when the gritters are out and about and the amount of salt bombarding my car on daily basis 6 months a year is beyond imagination. I do not like this idea of throwing salt at all as all it does is total destruction of cars and roads., plus in many cases causes more slippery conditions than help. 
I have seen peace’s of salt attached to my rear exhaust silencer and melted on causing a small crater like formation. I do wash once a week or winter once every two weeks by myself with a jet wash and spray a lots of water underbody, wheels, arches, suspension components, brakes, front grill radiators , and once a year engine bay. It does help a lot to maintain rust free or to minimise rust. So far so good, but it’s not rust free, it can’t be. 
 

[Puglet]

Agree, that looks very bad for the age of car, we had 70s cars that rusted for fun, but not really bad on chassis or subframes. Also had MOT comments about bits covered in oil/whatever so unable check/inspect. We don't live near the sea, but we owned 2 80s Ford's for over 25 years including winter salty roads and they never had any chassis/ subframe rot, body rot yes but that was expected. So that's why as mentioned something looks bit iffy here. Hope you get it sorted out ok.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Sorry CaptainBogs, didn't mean to upset you,or add to your worries.

I have not re read all of the thread, but have you drawn a total blank from the dealer and Toyota re any goodwill?

Towards repair,or a discount on another car perhaps.

Given that it was bought approved used in 2020 ,a lot of that corrosion must have already been there at that time.

I suppose if the worst comes to the worst, it would be replace the car,if repairs exceed the value, and try the county court route ,if feasible on that age of car.

But I do wish you good luck with it whatever happens, and do realise how annoying this must be for you.

 

[Puglet]

Another thing, don't know if you still have it may be worth hanging on to the old subframe/parts if you can just incase you get some joy from Toyota UK etc and they may want to inspect the evidence.

 

 

 

[TonyHSD]

I am not sure in this particular case Toyota will offer or willing to offer any help towards repair or accept warranty liability since there are signs of anti corrosion treatment which invalidates the warranty imo and is treated as modification. All I see wrong and it’s against the dealer whom sold the car to the OP as used approved without proper inspection and valuation or purposely sold with known rust issues, it is a legal battle against this dealer imo, but unfortunately I have no law experience or knowledge to help. Perhaps a opinion from barrister may be more helpful. 👍

[Derek.w]

Its a little late for this sugestion but at one time you had the option of taking the car to a AA garage for inspection report then you  have evidence and can reject it but that only applies for 30 days from purchase.

It just might help someone else.

[PCM]

Going to LanoGuard my car next week...

Anyone here using Corrolan at all?

Looks very similar to LanoGuard...

[Saxmaniac]

I have been using fluid film but it appears that all of these lanolin based products are pretty similar. The fluid film is no thicker than engine oil and unlike underseal or waxoyl type products, doesn't dry out or allow moisture and corrosion to go on underneath the coating. It needs reapplying yearly. I've had it under mine for 1 year after using all sorts of products over the years and it appears to protect perfectly. There's aerosols but best use an air fed injection gun, inside box sections and doors, liberally over suspension components, use common sense round rubber and brake components of course 

[AisinW]

On 11/24/2022 at 1:37 PM, CaptainBogs said:

Hi all, an update for you.

 

Upon  dropping the subframe it is apparently far to corroded to weld, so it had to go. Toyota quoted a whopping £1800 for this, but we where able to find one on Ebay for a slightly more reasonable figure and it has gone on fine. So this year the following have had to go due to corrosion :

1. Both rear calipers

2. Rear Springs

3. Front Arms

4. Front Subframe

The bill is currently eye watering, although i took a quick scout around the used market and its very depressing (an 08 yaris with 90k miles is selling for £1000 more than i bought my ill fated Auris for in 2020!!). Best case i could trade it in for a new Toyota and maybe get 2k for it - which is barely a deposit nowerdays.

Rear subframe is probably going to have to go before the end of next year. I am still considering making a complaint to Toyota, something i forgot to mention in my original post was it had a "health check" with Toyota Truro with a service in March, and no corrosion was mentioned, yet it was significant enough to fail it's MOT! It seems very unlikely it rusted that much in 7 months...

Front Subframe (pre-removal). Final picture is it after removal (i think)

State of the rear :

Never did a HPI check but the MOT does interestingly show the front arms where "corroded but not seriously weakened" in 2019. Frustratingly i naively assumed as the 2020 pre-delivery MOT was clean that they had replaced these 😞

 

That's a heck of rust.  I believe the car has been submerged in salty water in winter time.  I have never seen such corrosion for a 10 years old car. The best solution is getting subframe from Junk yards. Those are parts that barely have any wear parts as long as it is not badly rusted.  The control arms and multilinks are replacable and not that expensive.