jka

Has anyone heard of Oil Spray undercoating voiding your warranty? The dealership says if you have any electrical problems and the truck was oil sprayed the repairs are not covered.

Sounds like a ploy to get you to buy the dealerships undercoating.

Mexstan

I see that you are from Ontario. Does that mean that you are refering to Krown or Ziebart? I am absolutely sure that there is no warranty problems with Krown but I am not sure about Ziebart. If you are refering to just using old oil as some places do, then yes, I can see that as being a warranty problem.

jka

Mexstan: Not sure what you mean by Krown. They say Zeibart or any of the other undercoatings like it are okay.

The Oil Spray comes two ways, dripless, which is oil with an additive so it won't drip off the truck and make a mess of your driveway, and regular which is just oil. It's clean oil in both cases. You are supposed to get your vehicle treated once a year.

People who have had it done swear by it. The oil works its way into all the joints and seams and doesn't pull away and form pockets that hold water. It keeps rubber seals and hoses from drying out. Up here it costs about sixty bucks to get it done.

Mexstan

Krown Undercoating is one of the oldest and best known names in Canada for undercoating. They have been rated tops for years by various rating agencies. I have personally used their products and will vouch for them. Ziebart is similar but I wll never again use any of their products. Will not go into the why on this site. If you do some research you will even find that Ziebart were sued in the past for misrepresentation or something like that. It is all on public record.
The products that Krown use will in actual fact help to clean electrical contacts and I seem to remember that they have documented proof of that.
If your dealership us giving you a hard time about this get them to give you something in writing that says that if you spray an oil based product like Krown on your truck that it will void the warranty. Then take that to krown and let their corporate lawyers work on your behalf.
I have used both the regular and the dripless. The dripless still drips, just not as much. Yes, get your truck Krowned once a year and it will laugh at the Ontario salt.
Let us know the final outcome of this.

jka

Thanks Mexstan!

MK4288

i don't know what you guys are all worried adout cummins installed a selfsustaining oil coater with the engine they just like to call it a breather bottle! just over fill your oil once everyother oil change and you will never see rust under your truck ever haha just kidding

2manykids

I've been undercoating my vehicles with used oil for over 15 years. Never had any electrical problems arise. Sure makes it nice to work on a car without having to use a torch to break rusted bolts. Makes it look real nice too. I just sold my 92 chevy 1500 with 202k miles on it. Underside looked better than when it was new, and not a bit of rust on the body. I'll keep doing it too.

jaconst

I heard about this in the newspaper, click and clack or car guys whatever, they said they would not reccomend that treatment , few weeks ago I believe. I'm with MK4288 my cummins is a natural oil undercoater

SHARPMACHINE

do any of you use used motor oil? how do you apply it? michigan is a real rust palace to, so you guys have my complete attention.

thanks

2manykids

I put used motor oil in an old air tank with approx. 80psi in it, and spray it through a nozzle similar to a pressure washer. Whole deal takes about a half hour. I do it twice a year and it has worked great for me.

diesel_kid

Me and my dad have been undercoating for years. Since he has a bunch of machinery, he has to change hydraulic oil every so often so we got plenty of that. We use it and spray the entire truck with it. I guess hydraulic oil has some kind of detergent in it, so it cleans also. We put it in an oil sprayer and put the pressure to about 40 psi on our compressor and that puts it on real nice and thick. To get to tough spots, just increase the pressure to create a finer spray. It doesnt take long to do, and it uses up our old hydraulic oil. Before you spray make sure your truck is really good and dry, if there is a film of dirt underneath that is good because it will soak up the oil and hold it against the metal. Notice how I said film NOT 6 INCHES OF MUD. LOL. Anyways that just my 2 cents.....

Homestead

I am not sure about this oil undercoating, but it sounds like a bit of a waste of good coin.
3 times a year, I spend about an hour under my truck with the good old garden hose! Amazing what a good underside washing will get rid of. I have never owned a vehicle that was undercoated in any way. Back in my body shop days, every car or truck that we did a floor, rocker panel, trunk floor, etc replacement was undercoated and full of rust. You get a chip in that stuff and the water and salt get in there and fester like a pimple. It never dries out!!!

Most of the people I know and have told to do it, just wash the underside with the garden hose and they have zero problems. Some of these trucks are 12 years old and look mint underneath!!

Garden hose is cheap and the mechanics love working on my truck because it's so clean underneath.

Just my .02 cents!

2manykids

Whatever works for you I guess. For me, I'll stick with the used oil deal. Its worked for me for over 20 years. I'd much rather see a nice matt black finish on everything than see corrosion and rust. I may get my hands dirty working on it, but I never have to worry about starting anything on fire from using a torch.

Mexstan

Homestead, I think there is some misunderstanding on the word "undercoating". If I am correct, the undercoating you are referring to was a fairly thick sort of rubberized material that was sprayed on everything. That stuff promoted rust due to the fact that moisture could accumulate between it and the metal it was supposed to protect.
The modern oil spray is a special thin oil that actually displaces water. I have seen it creep up in apparent defiance of gravity. It works its way into every joint and is particularly good at getting into spot welded seams. I have seen it sprayed on to the back of wheels on an old rusty car and a few days later seen the oil appear on the outside of the wheel around the wheel nuts. When I tried to take the wheel nuts off they came off easily and I found that the oil had spread over the entire surface area between the wheel and the brake drum. That was pretty impressive. Regular oil will not do that.
Washing the underside of a vehicle frequently will also work, but only up to a point. If the vehicle is operated on salt covered roads, no amount of washing will stop the salt eventually penetrating where it is not wanted and of course then it cannot be washed out and the damage has started.

Smokee

I agree with Mexstan. The oil spray is really good. However, it does make working under the truck a little dirty. I do not think that oil spray is legal in many jurisdictions.

"Only in Ontario, you say?"