I've just had to add 4 litres of Ad Blue to my Audi A6 for the 4th time in 6 months (I got the car when it was 6 months old). Is this normal? It's a royal PITA since many petrol stations don't seem to have even heard of Ad Blue, never mind stocking it. £20 for 4 litres isn't cheap when it's needed every 4-6 weeks or so.
sounds about right - one of the hidden costs of modern diesels. Adblue has been around for years - some pumps are dispensing it now. you can buy it in bigish barrels.
EDIT - are you buying it in 4litre containers or is that the size of your tank in the car? The one in our work Alhambra pool car is about 15 or so litres.
I'm sorry, I've not heard of this. Is this an eco additive.
What's the consequences of not running it?
We have just had to have our C4 Grand Picasso topped up after 12000 miles. £9.99 at local garage.
Ours gave us a warning every time the engine was started. If we didn't top up within 1500 miles it puts engine into limp mode.
I bought a 4 litre bottle from Halfords since that was the only place I could conveniently find it. I doubt if Audi would have refilled the Ad Blue tank for £9.99 - that sounds like a winner Tracey.
Buying in cheaper 25 litre containers or buying from a pump sounds like the solution.
My warning lamp comes on at 1500 miles - my understanding is that the engine will refuse to restart if you run it down to zero.
Can't be that hard to find, lorries have been using it for several years so you can buy it in many petrol stations and as has been said, I've seen adverts for it being available on the pump recently.
dead dpf, dead catalyst, dead engine.What's the consequences of not running it?
Eventually. Possibly.
There is similar stuff in some Euro V systems as well. But dosage is far far lower, 30-40000km between refills type thing. Service intervals generally.
And there are a series of set cut outs. Warning at one remaining distance, limp home mode at another, shut down at a third. It's in the latest Regs somewhere.
The regs that VW are frantically reading at the moment.
They told us that they reset the warning after its been topped up so it should run for a while without any more putting in
I'm sorry, I've not heard of this. Is this an eco additive.What's the consequences of not running it?
AdBlue is the reagent added to the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems in diesel exhausts to turn the harmful NOX into harmless Nitrogen. It is composed of urea - yes pee!
If you run the vehicle without it, the catalytic converter cannot do its job and higher emissions will result. It won't do any harm to the engine, but it will kill all fluffy bunnies and baby robins within a ten mile radius - guaranteed. Hence car manufactures, being the concerned environmental saviours that they are, have warning lights and even forced limp mode to make you keep it topped up.
I often see it sat outside the larger garages which white van man typically use. Normally sits beside the logs and charcoal that no one buys.
Topping up every 4-6 weeks sounds pretty excessive to me.
I got a new E-class in March, it ran up to around 16k miles before the warning came on (just before the first service was due, inconveniently).
As said above, consequences of running out differ by manufacturer - the Mercedes delivers a very uncompromising message that the car won't start after X miles & give you a constant countdown!
Ps check with your manufacturer - Mercedes will refill it for free at main dealers (I've got a copy of a dealer memo which my lease company sent me, in case I had any trouble getting it for free!)
If that frightens you, wait until it gets the software update to sort the dodgy VW cal' & emits the legal NOx level. you'll be hosing the stuff in every other week. Sell it & buy a petrol.
Euro 6 and soon to be 7 warn at 3000 green warning then 1500 Amber and red and 500.
The engine softwear on most euro 6 and all euro 7 engines must not permit the engine to start if the fluid level is 0% because the vehicle is not conforming to its emission standards!!! All euro 6 car I thing now have the filler next to the fuel filler cap, older stuff is filled in the boot
A few years ago the EU was in talks about a warning light in the high level brake light to inform police etc that the vehicle is polluting more than specs and that was even for the engine management light on never mind the add blue light.
Regards psa Peugeot/CITROEN we charge £15 for 10 litres inc filling, tank capacity is 17 litres and should (driving style dependent last 14/16k between fill ups and should be filled to max as part of any service.
I presume one of our local chemical suppliers will sell it in 25litre pails, will check and let you know. Or buy a Passat, apparently they are faster 😉
I often see it sat outside the larger garages which white van man typically use. Normally sits beside the logs and charcoal that no one buys.
We stock it, and you would be amazed at the tonnage of logs we sell a year.
Perthmtb, thank you, exactly what I wanted to know.
I've always wondered how they justified the lower emissions on newer diesels and this helps explain at least one factor in that mix.
AdBlue is the reagent added to the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems in diesel exhausts to turn the harmful NOX into harmless Nitrogen. It is composed of urea - yes pee!
Can you literally just pee in into the ad-blue filler cap then? that would save money. Is it wide enough so you can get your entire chap in there or do you just have to aim it in? Something else to check on the test drive anyway.
Because the water/urea mix is such a hassle to constantly fill up the next advance is a sold block of urea that's heated to provide the gas for the chemical reaction, because it's not idea injecting water onto a sensitive extremely hot particle filter esp when you want it hotter not cooler to help the reaction/regeneration process.
Can you literally just pee in into the ad-blue filler cap then? that would save money. Is it wide enough so you can get your entire chap in there or do you just have to aim it in? Something else to check on the test drive anyway.
I did wonder when it was fist fitted to lorries, what stops unscrupulous haulage companies from just filling the tanks with water. Do they have some sort of feedback from the exhaust to the injector (like a lambda probe, but for NOx), and if that's the case, would any old urea work (i.e. pee).
Try to find a garage that caters for Lorries - our local one sells huge bottles of it (25ltrs I'd guess) for £10, I often wondered why it was a cheap as piss, seems it's because it is.
Our new little works Berlingo needs topping up every 12500 miles, it was the first we'd ever heard of AdBlue. The dealer will kindly refill ours for £40 - or we can buy enough for multiple refills for £10.
I did wonder when it was fist fitted to lorries, what stops unscrupulous haulage companies from just filling the tanks with water. Do they have some sort of feedback from the exhaust to the injector (like a lambda probe, but for NOx), and if that's the case, would any old urea work (i.e. pee).
Most Euro 4 trucks that ran adblu you could as there was no feedback to the ECU about the catalyst other than temperature. It simply injected adblu blindly when certain conditions were met.
Euro 5 and above requires NOx monitoring, which will detect if the catalyst isn't doing it's job.
Being caught circumventing emissions with a truck has quite harsh penalties, as their tax is based quite heavily on emissions.
And no, you can't just pee in the tank. Adblue is a refined urea, and contaminants can cause very expensive damage. I've never had to deal with any car systems yet, but contaminating a truck system will quite easily cost you into four figures to sort, and depending on how good a job you do, heading towards five figures.
Im not sure I could hoover over the hole in our boot without missing so that option is out for me.
Our local Morrisons filling station sells it
When we drove through France to Spain in October nearly all of the petrol stations seemed to have petrol pump style dispensers for it. I did think that i'd never noticed it in the UK - I wonder if it's higher milages being driven or some French regulation that meant it got put on the forecourts.
First had to refill my Zafira tourer at 18k,then again last week at 27k so doubt it was full up. 4 times in 6 months seems excessive unless you're doing moon mileage
Depends on the engine and vehicle weight, and the tank size.
One of our 7.5t at work developed a dodgy AdBlue quantity sensor which told the ecu that the tank was empty when it wasn't, result was engine switching to limp home mode i.e. Engine not allowed to rev thus not emit excess Nox as no AdBlue to reduce it.
Get used to it folks, it's the future...