VW and Adblue = Arrrgggggghhhh!

[gadgetman]

So I learned today the work's Sharan has adblue. I had no idea what it was until I got an error message.

Driving along get a brief message about adblue error, range 22000miles. Then 650miles! Looking in the book the car uses adblue, and if you drop below 600miles remaining distance you run the risk of not being able to restart the engine, even by jumpstarting, which on a bluemotion is fantastic!

So went to VW and grabbed 2 bottles. The only 2 bottles they had. But you need 6 (10 litres) to reset the system and stop it shutting the engine down.

Car's sat on the drive screaming errors about adblue low, and with a spanner symbol and the EML light on. I have to try and limp to a VW garage hoping they have some!

I now also have a new option in the MFD showing the range left of the adblue which never existed until the error message today. Seriously this is dangerous as you could get stranded very easily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do VAG have to mess with stuff. I'm starting to miss my old work's Mondeo :(

[chrisw880]

Whats adblue do to the engine?

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

:wonder: Never thought about normal cars having them. Its a pain on buses, but at least its not my problem if I run out of the stuff. It gets delivered on a crate to work, but from what I can see they dont use a great deal of it (given the amount of vehicles that use the stuff).

How much was it?

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Whats adblue do to the engine?

As far as i`m aware it just reduces emissions, although thats from one of out "fitters" so dont take that as gospel.

[moley]

A German collegue used to drive Peugeots, his last was a 307. He told me that he had a warning that the adblue tank was low, but it wasn't. The dealer had the car for a week and it cost him just over 1000 euros to fix the fault. He traded the car in just after that and bought an Octavia.

[mannyo]

Adblue is an additive which is added to diesel on DPF equipped cars to aid the regeneration cycle by generating heat.

No Skoda model currently in production uses this additive, as the DPF is located close enough to the engine, that its possible to regen simply by adding extra diesel.

The only Skoda model in the past that used an additive is the MK1 2.0 TDi Superb.

There will be a tank in the back of the car, with a level indicator on the side.

[gadgetman]

:wonder: Never thought about normal cars having them. Its a pain on buses, but at least its not my problem if I run out of the stuff. It gets delivered on a crate to work, but from what I can see they dont use a great deal of it (given the amount of vehicles that use the stuff).

How much was it?

2 bottles was £11 odd. I actually needed 6 bottles.

I cant see any level indicator Manny. Will have a better look when I get it sorted tomorrow.

Garage I bought from hadnt come across any of the cars with it fitted, but from what the master tech has read it should last more than the maximum variable interval? Tank is 17.5 litres to max, so there was a suggestion the tank wasnt topped up at PDI.

And yes, it's a 2.0 TDI Bluemotion.

[Volvomeg]

The volvos with the ford 1.6 and 2.0 diesels use similar stuff and its 75quid a pop and has to be refilled every 36k or 37500 depending on year of car,

Best thing is this stuff also damages the dpf over time and that needs replacing at 72,500 or 75000 service again depending on year of car,

Think of creasote that you paint on your fence at home with, it looks just like that but more corrosive

[gac]

So you're not just carting around a full tank of fuel now, but also another 20 litres of this other liquid? And this is supposed to improve economy and "greenness"? Seems a bit arse-backwards to me :(

Once again I'm glad I have a car without a DPF, every time I read about one it's just more and more issues, whether it be limp mode cos it's been unable to regenerate, or now this need to purchase and haul around a load of extra weight for the sake of helping your DPF which will probably break anyway...

[gadgetman]

I assume Volkswagen/VAG only do this to the 2.0 TDI?

[rockhopper]

Is it a PD thing, or for some of the CR's fitted to VW's need it as well?

The mk1 superb was a PD. don't some of the later Octavia's with the PD engines have DPF's that were fitted too far away from the exhaust?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trundlenut]

The volvos with the ford 1.6 and 2.0 diesels use similar stuff and its 75quid a pop and has to be refilled every 36k or 37500 depending on year of car,

Best thing is this stuff also damages the dpf over time and that needs replacing at 72,500 or 75000 service again depending on year of car,

Think of creasote that you paint on your fence at home with, it looks just like that but more corrosive

IIRC correctly adblue is essentially just urea whereas some other manufacturers use a diffferent solution with cerium in it which costs a damn site more.

I'm sure I read a thread recently where someonen got the adblue from a motor factors or somewhere for a fraction of what VW charge (it is essentially a weak solution of wee).

[Mr Ree]

What an absolute utter nightmare these dpf's are becoming.

Remind me NOT to buy a car in the future with one. :no:

[Gizmo]

IIRC correctly adblue is essentially just urea whereas some other manufacturers use a diffferent solution with cerium in it which costs a damn site more.

I'm sure I read a thread recently where someonen got the adblue from a motor factors or somewhere for a fraction of what VW charge (it is essentially a weak solution of wee).

Correct adblue is basically pigs p155!!

gadgetman, go to any motorway services forecourt and you can buy a clear plastic 10L container of the stuff for about £13 - £14 (used to be £10)

Most newer trucks need to run adblue nowadays so ot can be found fairly easily.on the motorway.

Just make sure you do not spill any on the vehicle as the stuff is HIGHLY corrosive!!

[mannyo]

I assume Volkswagen/VAG only do this to the 2.0 TDI?

Skoda dont use this on any current models, only the old 2.0TDI MK1 Superb. None of the MK2 Superbs, including the early PD Engined versions use this stuff either. So basically any Skoda newer than late 2008 will NOT have adblue or any other additive requirement for the DPF.

[Tech1e]

Skoda dont use this on any current models, only the old 2.0TDI MK1 Superb. None of the MK2 Superbs, including the early PD Engined versions use this stuff either. So basically any Skoda newer than late 2008 will NOT have adblue or any other additive requirement for the DPF.

Not quite and I think two systems are getting confused here.

The Superb 1 used an additive to burn off soot in the DPF as it was to far from the engine to get hot enough. It's basically iron filings in a solution that heat up, the downside is that the DPF fills up with the filings and then has to be changed.

As far as I understand AdBlue isn't anything to do with the DPF directly. It's added to the exhaust to lower Nox emissions.

[Phil-E]

You were ripped off by the dealer! Just go to a petrol station that has it and fill the tank or buy elsewhere. Loads cheaper.

And as said it is only used on certain models.

There was a post on here not too long ago from someone with a 2.0 TDi Superb that used the stuff.

After much digging around he found he could use any old adblue and instead of replacing the DPF that was giving faults he removed it and jet washed it out.

Phil

[rwbaldwin]

The Superb 1 used a fluid most closely related to Detroit Diesel's BlueTec SCR Technology.

This is basically an aqueous urea solution with iron-exchanged (often wrongly described as ion-exchanged) zeolites used to prevent sulphur poisoning.

[cheezemonkhai]

So I learned today the work's Sharan has adblue. I had no idea what it was until I got an error message.

Driving along get a brief message about adblue error, range 22000miles. Then 650miles! Looking in the book the car uses adblue, and if you drop below 600miles remaining distance you run the risk of not being able to restart the engine, even by jumpstarting, which on a bluemotion is fantastic!

So went to VW and grabbed 2 bottles. The only 2 bottles they had. But you need 6 (10 litres) to reset the system and stop it shutting the engine down.

Car's sat on the drive screaming errors about adblue low, and with a spanner symbol and the EML light on. I have to try and limp to a VW garage hoping they have some!

I now also have a new option in the MFD showing the range left of the adblue which never existed until the error message today. Seriously this is dangerous as you could get stranded very easily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do VAG have to mess with stuff. I'm starting to miss my old work's Mondeo :(

You can buy it by the tonne at almost any motorway service station.

Lorries all use it

As Ross says, it's for NOx emissions and actually is probably a good thing as cars with it don't need an EGR to make the engines "breath their own farts" to reduce NOx as this does it.

Edited 9 February, 2012 by cheezemonkhai

[gadgetman]

Were going to charge me labour to refill, but did it all inc adblue FOC. Guessing someone didn't check it at PDI.

All VAG derv's will have it very soon, including Skoda! Confirmed by looking at an article on the mqb chassis which also says VAG will be using valve shutdo2n and dropping chains on all engines and going back to belts!

[Phil-E]

It's really not an issue. Just people not realising it is required in the car.

As said above it can be bought cheaply at service stations etc and if it got to the point where a bigger majority of cars use it then it will become more widely available. VAG won't be the only manufacturer looking to use it in their cars either.

Glad they did it FOC. Like you say they must have missed it on the PDI so have sheepishly dont it now for you.

At least you know for next time. You will get a fair few miles out of this fill up though!

Phil

[Gizmo]

How many miles has the car done?

Adblue is a consumable fluid just like diesel so not something that a PDI would of covered I would of thought? although for the cost of 17.5ltrs of it it would hurt to be full when you bought the car...... was it full though? I would imagine a tank that small would need refilling every 2 -3k miles??

[gadgetman]

Indeed, but how many miles should you get? No one can give a straight answer!

[Gizmo]

To give you a very rough idea on a truck a tank of adblue will usually last around 3 -4 tanks of diesel, I would imagine a truck would use more though as it is constantly under load??

[Phil-E]

Apparantly they use an average of 0.1 litres per 100km (62 miles).

Phil