What have I done?

[Yaris1234]

Hello. I have a 2005 Yaris. I suspected a bad wheel bearing and thought about lifting up the car with help from a jack. I placed myself on the left hand side at the front and placed the jack under (from what I thought was a strong point in the construction) a circular little point (picture). I started to pump and the car lifted slowly. Something didn't feel right so I lowered the car back down to the ground. I looked under where the jack had been and saw that I had made a big dent, going right up, close where the drivers left foot is placed.

I think I have hurt some kind of soft metal, as you can see from the pictures there are cracks along the circular "thing?" also a bit along side on the first picture to the upper right (red marking). Have I breached something serious? I guess I don't want moisture traveling up there through the cracks...?

Please help me sort out what I have done and how serious this is.

[Kar98]

Where you are supposed to put the jack:

http://i.imgur.com/VCPTA2l.jpg

I'm not even sure how you managed to do what you did.

[brushforhire]

The round thing is a body plug. Just rubber plug that can be pulled out to drain out excess water. You might need to pull the carpet back there to make sure it is seated properly if you can't tell from the bottom.

The long "crack" on the side just looks like where the floorpan meets the rocker panel. Looks more like the undercoating is cracking that anything else.

I would say you probably just scratched the metal a little around the body plug.

[WeeYari]

^ this

No damage done. Just get yourself a rattle can of rust-proofing and spray those areas you've outlined in red.

[tmontague]

^ definitely spray the area to avoid corrosion.

I don't personally put jack stands under the pinch welds. IMO they're only good for road side emergencies. I put stands under the control arms for the front, or the subframe if I need access to the control arms.

I put my Jack under the pinch welds but only to jack up and down the car. I also cut a slit in a rubber hockey puck so that no damage is done to the pinch welds.

For the rear of the car, use the little piece of metal coming down in the middle of the back of the car. Then put your stands under the axles. Works well and keeps everything sturdy.

I've heard of others using the square frame rails that run under the car just in from the pinch welds. This should be fine since the Yaris is such a light car.

[Yaris1234]

Thank you!

[Bluevitz-rs]

put the jack under the big square frame rails.

[bronsin]

"And you may ask yourself "My God, what have I done?""

Talking Heads

[xdarkxfirex]

No damage at all. I jack up my car from other places, and you can see a few small dents here and there, but it doesnt effect the car whatsoever. Even the subframe bends a little when I jack it up from there. Toyota should've used stronger metal. As long as you dont jack it from obvious places, like the oil pans, brake/fuel lines etc, you should be fine. It you are worried about any damage, just jack it up from somewhere really solid. Even the pinch welds bend a bit

[CoryM]

I'm guessing you've had a BMW or similar? They use round black "jacking pads" which look a bit like the rubber plug you went for.

As others have said, you're fine. Next time, try the subframe.

Cheers.

[Secretblend]

Here is locations of where you can place jack and jack stands on your car.