Echo rust

[prettygood]

I have an '01 Echo with rocker panels rusted so bad it won't pass state safety inspection. The dealer says they see a lot of that now on all cars, it is caused by calcium chloride on the roads. Neither my '97 or '96 Camrys have this. Has anyone else had this problem, got this runaround?

[raggyo]

i too live in maine and just had my 94 saturn fail inspection as entire rear end rusted out beyond repair. qualified mechanic & plow driver in calais claim new chemicals used in ice removal, not only rusting out old cars, but causing major undercarrige damage to all cars & trucks up here in our wonderful winters.

[sonychild]

I have a 01 Echo, I also noticed the rust start forming about a year ago at the rear rocker panel and my personal mechanic said the reason for this is because when they lift the vehicle on the hoist (to do oil changes and such) Toyota service tech's don't bother to use the rubber pucks/blocks that should be placed between the hoist and your rocker panel. I also know this is a fact because I used to work in a Toyota service dept as a co-op student when I was in high school. They used to only do this to the Echo because it's a lighter car, Camrys, etc would always get proper service. Do you know if it's repairable? Where do I take my car to fix it?

Originally Posted by prettygood

I have an '01 Echo with rocker panels rusted so bad it won't pass state safety inspection. The dealer says they see a lot of that now on all cars, it is caused by calcium chloride on the roads. Neither my '97 or '96 Camrys have this. Has anyone else had this problem, got this runaround?

[raggyo]

sorry sonychild, my mechanic down here in falmouth maine.
raggy

[Dake]

No rust on my Echo... of course I live in southern Texas.

The only way to fix that if the rust is that bad, is to cut out the old rocker panels and weld in new ones since it's a unit-body.

If you can catch it early enough you can wire brush the rust spots down to bare metal and treat it with a rust stop and repaint those areas. My old Celica rusted at the rear wheel-wells and that did the trick quite nicely.

Another cheap cheat if you've got lots of holes already in those areas is to do the above (treat and save the existing metal) and then use JB Weld or some other epoxy to epoxy on a new strip of metal - then paint it to match. It may not be pretty, but it might get it through inspection.

When did Maine start doing safety inspections, or is that only in the big cities? I used to live up in Presque Isle and we never had to worry about that.

[Stevo_Echohb05]

Originally Posted by sonychild

my personal mechanic said the reason for this is because when they lift the vehicle on the hoist (to do oil changes and such) Toyota service tech's don't bother to use the rubber pucks/blocks that should be placed between the hoist and your rocker panel. I also know this is a fact because I used to work in a Toyota service dept as a co-op student when I was in high school. They used to only do this to the Echo because it's a lighter car, Camrys, etc would always get proper service. Do you know if it's repairable? Where do I take my car to fix it?

What do they use to lift thew cars? All cars in our shop are lifted using the rubber lift pads.

To fix a rust problem you would take the car to a bodyshop.

[PhatRoyale]

You can most definitely do the rust repairs yourself. I'm currently in the middle of a huge job on my Corolla.

Although it is a long and somewhat painful process if you don't have any experience working on your car.

Let me know if you need any assistance or pointers, I'd be happy to provide some advice.