A biodiesel user who is part of the San Francisco Biofuels group recently blew up his truck, a brand-new Ford F350. It's quite a story, and he's given AutoblogGreen permission to relay his tale to our readers, who I think will enjoy this heartbreaker. Here's Peterson in his own words:
"I supposedly blew up my brand new $55k truck, with just 200 miles on it, running B99. I say supposedly, because I can't believe it was a fuel problem-but Ford is sticking me with $17k bill for a new engine (major labor required to remove cab etc..). They tested the fuel at two labs and said I violated the warranty (which says no more than B5). I am meeting with the engineer that was flown out from Dearborn to examine the problem today, so I hope to get some technical background on this. ... I have been running B99 in my other cars for 2 years. I'm a farm kid, and fairly comfortable around machinery, and have never had any problems with them. To my understanding, biodiesel has a higher flash point and I can't understand how one blows up an engine on a vegetable-based fuel. Ford markets the ultra-low-sulfur engine as the cleanest in the industry. I ran B100 in my 2004 F25- for 2 years-a similar, high performance PowerStroke."
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