I recently bought a used Honda Accord 2002 (about a year ago) and recently was removing the tires to look at the tierods and noticed rust on to my untrained eye is a frame component. It appears to be a two piece spot welded box channel or something like that. The drivers side appeared rust free on the top and bottom, but the passenger side had the top rusted straight through.

My questions are
1) how imminently should this be repaired
2) can this be repaired and if so, what types of shops should I talk to and does anyone have an estimate on what this could run?
3) Any ideas why this side would show such aggressive rusting and none on the other side?

Very much appreciate any help on this,

Scott

 

I believe that is the sub-frame that is rusting. If that is rusted through and weak, then you need to get it replaced. Any reputable shop should be able to do this repair. Id try to find a place that specializes in Hondas/Foreign cars.

 

PAhonda, thanks for your reply. Do you know how they do this repair? Do they completely cut out that section and weld in a new one...

Any ballpark estimate what something like that would cost? Are we talking 100s or 1000s?

Thanks again,
Scott

 

As I recall from pulling a 6th Gen engine a couple of years ago, the rusted piece in your pic is the subframe and is a bolt-on piece. If that's true then no cutting/welding required.

Cost guesstimate: Five hours labor + $100 for a used subframe; maybe $500 total. Plus alignment.

 

Thank you Roader, I will look into it. It appears from your diagram that the piece is the front end subframe that spans to both sides of the vehicle. From the picture I sent, on the left side looks to be where it bolts on to the rear beam.

Would that be your understanding?

Would you recommend trying to get one from a junkyard or where else? Probably not an aftermarket item.

Scott

 

That's what it looks like to me but I don't own a 6th Gen so I'm just going from memory. The subframe has to come off to pull the engine from the bottom and I kind of remember that it looked like your photo. Get the car up on jack stands and look at it. See if the rusted part is bolted - not welded - to car. If so then you're in luck. I think you can buy that part new from a dealer but it would probably be expensive. A junkyard would be my choice, but check to make sure a used one doesn't have the same problem as yours. You could go so far as to buy a rust-free part from a Western junkyard but the shipping would probably be expensive. Check out car-part(dot)com. I think it's called an engine cradle on that website. Or Craig's List for someone parting out a 6th Gen car.