Parked in the grass for a while?

They always have. A long time ago Dodges were almost bullet proof vehicles. There suffered from conservative styling. That changed in the 50's when Virgil Exner became the head of styling. His designs looked fresh but the cars suffered from quality problems and rust. Chrysler was the first car company to offer a 50,000 mile warranty - it was intended to deflect their quality issues.

The Audis and Dubs the same age as T77's Dakota are not rusted much even in Ohio.

Pal's 02 Dakota has one of those electronic rust gizmos on it and we still put wheel well sheet metal inserts in and will replace front fenders.

Here is his engine compartment. Comparable to yours? Plus a fender pic for fun.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1523476512.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1523476512.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1523476512.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1523476512.jpg

MOPAR - Mostly Old Parts and Rust.

Everyday is Monday morning at Chrysler...

Like Tim I used to be a Dodge guy. A few pickups a couple of Ramchargers. The last one i bought was a V8 Dakota. Don't remember the year of it but i think it was the first year for the V8.
Didn't keep it long enough to rust.....bought a new Toyota 4 runner in 1995 and have stayed with Toyota since.

My 03 Tacoma is rusted out (frame mostly). Haven't had an inspection sticker on it for 2 years now.
Just drive it 1 mile to work and back. Still runs like a top.

They have or had a program to replace the frames on certain Tacomas fo' free. Have you checked into this?

Yup....they inspected it once and said it was fine. Then they had the recall were they wanted to spray the frame and i never got it done. After i found the first crack in the frame i called Toyota and they said.... sorry you didn't get the frame sprayed ........to bad.

Yep. Buddy has a 99 Windstar. Engine cradle rusted and broke. He was at my shop. I called Ford on speaker phone with VIN number and they asked "Did he get the notices?" I looked over at him and he nodded yes.

Too bad. So sad.

My 18 2500 is already rusting on the corner of the tail gate. 5 month old truck.

I'm gonna say the lack of quality of the Mexican plants

The right indy weld shop can work wonders for a few hundred bucks.

it really makes me wonder how dodge stays in business.

Creative commercials :confused: Everyone wants a RAM :D

I'd say it is the quality of the design and has nothing to do with where the vehicle is bolted together. IMHO the engineering team behind the product know perfectly well what corrosion protection (or not) is on each metal part. Somewhere along the way they decided to save 3 cents per bolt.

They sell cheaper than GMC or Ford new, and they would like you to buy another new one.

Can you post a picture? You've got me curious now. :cool:

Had a 93' Audi S4. Sold it two years ago. Not a rust spot on it. Hot dip galvanization made sure it would not rust. Lot's of other things leaked and broke, but rust was not the issue.

For sure, some vehicles rust-out worse than others but how you care for it is a large factor. Salt spray needs to be washed off constantly in the winter w a warm power washer.

Minnesota, especially in the large cities where all the freeways and major thoroughfares are, is salt damage central. The coin car washes have closing roll-up doors and spray hot water, (how else would they work there), they are awesome. The time you need to worry about it is when the weather is relatively warm, (near freezing or above), when it's below zero, the salt is inert.

The real problem is governments using sodium chlorine on roads but they say that there is no other cost-effective solution and the cost of lives lost or maimed on icy roads vs. cost of property damage to vehicles and steel bridges, etc., etc...

It's a nightmare.

That's great but there is a big difference between a car w no visible body rust and an actual dry car. 50 y.o. car w completely unprotected metal can be dry as a bone underneath in the American southwest and a 3 y.o. state-of-the-art vehicle in Minnesota will have rusted fasteners and parts under the hood galore. :cool: