Biomechanics

veg your warranty!

By David Rosenstraus

More in the Summer 2009 issue

To anyone who has considered modifying a vehicle in any way, this statement is pertinent to you:  Legally, any non-certified aftermarket retrofit to a vehicle enables the dealership to deny any existing warranty on that vehicle.  
This is primarily the reason that many people choose older or out of warranty vehicles to modify and experiment with to use biodiesel or straight vegetable oil (SVO).  
However, there are many people out there who want a brand new vehicle and who want to use biofuels, so here are some experiences to help shed some light on the warranty issue.
Dealerships are strange entities.  They have independent ownership, and each dealer purchases vehicles from the manufacturer.  There are standards for each dealer, as with a franchise; in contrast to franchises, dealerships must compete with each other.  
The protocol that each dealership should abide by when a vehicle comes in to be serviced is to check the vehicle first for modifications and report any modifications to the manufacturer's main database before any service work is performed.  
Since dealerships are competing with each other and are under independent ownership, abiding by a set protocol falls into a grey area.  
This is best displayed by a couple real life scenarios we have encountered.
When I called them, Baum Blvd. Dodge dealership in Pittsburgh said they report everything they see (exhaust systems, tuners, body kits, SVO systems, etc.) as it comes in.  No matter if the retrofit is related to the service problem or not, they do not service the vehicle under warranty if any changes have been made.   
At Fred Beans dealership in Philadelphia, a customer of ours purchased a brand new 2006 Jetta and told them upfront his plans of conversion to SVO.  The dealership said that he could retain his full warranty and that the modifications were not an issue.  
Three Rivers Chrysler/Jeep dealership in Pittsburgh stated that because a customer was going to have an aftermarket fuel system, the fuel system components would not be covered under the warranty, but that all functions of the vehicle not related to the fuel system would still be covered.  
Given these three examples, it makes it difficult to give an absolute answer to the warranty question.  
I personally would recommend talking extensively with the dealership before making a purchase.  Don't assume that you can either hide what you have done or that they will gladly work on your vehicle with modifications.  
Since all dealerships are slightly different with their policies, shop around.  This is typical practice for consumers, not for warranty issues but to get a better deal, more options, or even to find out which dealership just treats them better as a person.
Thus far the examples have been related to parts modifications to a vehicle, but there is another side to the coin. You are using a fuel that is not recommended by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).  
Whether it be 100% biodiesel (B100), or used cooking oil, the plant or animal based fuel you are pumping in your tank is not what the OEM sees as the "correct" fuel for your vehicle.  
The exception is in the agricultural market, where the tractor manufacturer New Holland certifies all of its new tractors for use with B100. Certain other OEMs state that a B5 or B20 blend with #2 diesel is acceptable for proper engine operation.
Also, the OEM is defining the biodiesel as "biodiesel that has been commercially manufactured to an ASTM spec."  
I can sympathize with why the manufacture is so stringent.  As a manufacturer of components myself, I would not guarantee the proper operation of a vehicle if someone poured non-dewatered, nominally-filtered vegetable oil or raw, unwashed B100 into the tank.  
If a customer contacts us and says their system is not working correctly, nine times out of ten it is because of bad oil.  
What can we do about bad oil?  Was it our fault that a customer chose to put liquids that were not acceptable into his or her fuel system?  Is it the dealership's responsibility to pump out your tank, change your filter and flush your lines under warranty because you filled up with soapy biodiesel?  I don't think so.
This brings up my point of personal responsibility.  
Unless you are using ASTM spec biodiesel or properly tested homebrew, you should not expect perfect results.  The same goes for vegetable oil.  The vegetable oil should be new or, if used, dewatered and filtered down to an absolute micron spec and tested.  
At our shop we have SVO for resale.  None of the vehicles that exclusively use our oil need filter changes more than the recommended service interval, nor do other parts of their system clog.  This is because we ensure our oil is filtered properly.  
We have customers with their own filtration methods who do have problems related to oil quality.  
If you are making fuel yourself you are an experimenter, and you should expect the ups and downs of experimentation.
Until OEMs certify their engines for use with B100 or straight vegetable oil, there can be no legal way to maintain a warranty.  
This is where you come in.
As a group of individuals interested in using biofuels exclusively, you have a voice.  That voice can make a phone call, compose an email, or write a letter showing the market for engines that accept B100 and SVO (find addresses in biodieselSMARTER #9).  
Tell OEMs and dealerships if vehicles are not going to be produced to use biofuels, then vehicle sales will drop.  
The consumer voice can be a powerful one. I hope that an influx of interest will trickle down into a checkbox listed on the options sheet in the hand of the salesperson at the dealership. I'd like to see the day Mrs. Soccer Mom can say, "I'll take the SVO option and the organic hemp interior."

Dave Rosenstraus is a founding partner of SVO kit creator & installer Fossil Free Fuel. Visit them at www.fossilfreefuel.com or 223 Braddock Ave, Braddock, PA.