Wow, even I have never seen one this bad!

I have been working diligently to clean up my yard of grill projects, moving most to my "new" storage area & "shop" in an unusable house in the community I manage. A few were really sitting awaiting disassembly to strip out usable parts. One of those was a ~1998 redhead Genesis. I knew the frame was mostly toast, but I did get it for free.

My shock came, though, when I finally took time to look closely at the aluminum firebox. I have seen a spot with burn through, but I have never seen an aluminum firebox that basically appears to have just decayed to uselessness. Not sure what did it in other than our Florida salt air.

Have you guys ever seen one like this?







This firebox wound up being just an addition to our aluminum scrap pile at our organization's maintenance shop. I was happy, though, to get some early version burner tubes made of non-magnetic stainless that, in spite of age, look like they can be shined up and used again!

Jon, my experiences have been similar to yours. I have come across a couple with a single or maybe two small holes (pea size or smaller), but I have never seen one eaten away like that. I wonder if he didn't just spray some caustic cleaner in there and leave it sit without every cleaning it out or something.

My experience with the holes is the same as Bruce mentioned. One or two small holes, on a couple of really older abused grills.
The holes were always in the same place as on your grill though. Right along the ledge that holds the grate.

That's really bad. total scrap