Rusty 2002, need advice

c/l i suppose. but maybe you could find a non rusty one and swap batteries.

 

Time to donate it to a good cause and move on.
It can’t be inspected so it’s ded

 

Donate it to your local Public Radio. They'll send it to an auction and get a portion of whatever it brings. It's done it's duty and deserves a rest.

 

Probably finding a non rusty one in N. New York would not be so easy. RIP little car!

 

watch out for 'flood cars', all the best!

 

2002 Toyota Prius hybrid - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle automotive sale I know a long way from NY. 1st gens are kinda dear at this time in S. AZ. but it's a great place to look for good chassis. It's dry, no snow or salt, no rust (at all), and Prius interiors seem to be able to stay nice here.

An alternative would be to look for 2nd Gen Prius's. Prices are almost as low as Classics. If I were changing cars, I'd probably spend the money and get a Highlander hybrid. My sister has one and they use it to pull their tent camper all over the west. Hers is 10 years old and never misses a beat.

 

Toyota should start taking responsibility, do some galvanizing or something.

 

It's the same as it ever was, maybe a little better. Cars in the US where there's snow are subjected to salty slushy water for 4 months a year--the salt causes corrosion and the car turns to rusty flakes. I grew up in W. Michigan, I had a 5 year old Corvair--rusted out hood and floorboards. If you tried to loosen the lug nuts, you ran the risk of breaking the lug bolts--replacing lug bolts was a very common occurrence. I had a big fancy Ford Convertible that was ten years old--the rear bumper literally fell off when I went over a bump. I had a 10 year old VW convertible that the top wouldn't fold right because parts were rust welded or broken. Believe me, Mendel, cars are much better than they used to be.

When I was a kid, people would go looking for cars from California or AZ, or even from south of the snow belt. We in the southwest are soo spoiled by our wonderful old cars that have fasteners that don't break when you loosen them and unrusted body & chassis parts.

 

I find Honda's somewhat better in this regard, both suspension frame members and bolts. I've also heard some of the better rust-preventative coatings are now banned, concerns about health issues?

 

I'm starting to wonder if some of that is just generalized gummint's-always-wrong grumpiness. A few years ago I found this chart of Toyota plating specs:



You can see where the old 6500G standards were obsoleted and replaced by the 6524G ones that are free of hexavalent chromium (the aforementioned health concern). From all the grumbling about the phase-out, you would expect the salt-spray hour ratings to be a lot lower for the new stuff, but notice you really don't, in fact the new stuff is darned good. It really shows up in the thinnest coatings: see how a five micron plate of the 6524G has almost three times the hours-to-red-rust as the old must-have-been-better-because-it-was-phased-out stuff?

Wouldn't you love to have some stuff plated in zinc-nickel though? Get a load of those salt-spray hours. My local plating shop doesn't do any, though.

-Chap

 

With the couple of Hondas I'm crawling under, the frame members and bolts/fasteners seem to look very stable: dark grey, with only minor hints of rusts. Our Prius comparably, seems to rust if you look at it cross-eyed, lol. Bolts and screws quickly rust, framing starts rusting very quickly at any welds, and spreads.

 

I hear you. I just, looking at that chart, am skeptical that much of it really boils down to the "everything was dandy back when Cr(VI) didn't cause cancer" kind of narrative.

I figure it must come down more to just the everyday economic decisions Honda and Toyota must be making about which thickness of which treatment to spec for which parts.

I discovered the electroplating shop in town, who did a lovely job replating some old brake hardware for me. I'm curious about e-coating and keep looking for a shop that does that and will take one-off jobs, but so far, none I've tried return my messages.

-Chap

 

An icy road can help you wreck your car during the winter.

A salt-rusted car can crumble out from under you any time of year.

I don't think there are enough benefits in salting the roads.

 

Check Craigslist, Dallas TX. Saw a Gen1 there they are parting out. Looks complete except may they pulled the engine for sale. Can not see front in pics but rest ppears to have some minor damage to right quarter as I remember. Depending on shipping it might be of interest to you. Same color as our '03 (light gold) so had thought about it myself. There is contact info (phone #) hope this helps. Peace

 

Me too. You might private message Dierdra Rogers and see what you can work out with her. If she would sell it cheaply enough, you could have it shipped to you, slap your battery in it, fix whatever else it would need, and have a decent lo mileage Prius. She's in a northern suburb of San Francisco.

 

Yaay!