Adblue Blues

[ian4apenny]

Excuse my ignorance, but I am a complete newby to using Adblu having chosen a moho without it the last time round. Now we have just bought a Ducato based moho with the "benefit" of Adblu and I have few questions related to use.
1) Is it best to carry a container of Adblu with you or rely on refilling regularly at petrol stations?
2) Is it easy enough to refill. I read somewhere that it is nasty stuff to handle?
3) What is this about formation of crystals? Should I be worried or is there a way to avoid it?

 

[funflair]

I always fill ours from a 10 litre container and also carry a spare 5 litres, some are easier to fill than others, ours isn’t that easy as it’s in a side locker so I don’t want any spills, yes it will form crystals when open to air but they are easily re absorbed into the fluid, there are additives available that are supposed to prevent crystals in the system and make it more reliable but I don’t know if it’s just “snake oil”

Ours is IVECO daily so you need to familiarise yourself with where the filler is on your van.

 

[Jo662]

3) What is this about formation of crystals? Should I be worried or is there a way to avoid it?

The best way is keep it topped up, the crystals can form on the sides of the tank as it empties and dries .

 

[Pausim]

The Adblue filler on our Ducato is next to the fuel filler and easy to use with a pump. We have an Adblue gauge and don’t bother carrying an extra container. The handbook says not to use additives
“ Do not add additives or other fluids to AdBlue® (UREA); doing so could damage the system.”

 

[hja]

The filler is next to the fuel filler in our ducato. There is a “trap door” inside which has to be forced open in order for the stuff to go in. Most containers come with a pipe attached. Some report the pipe is not always long enough. We have not had that problem. Whether you carry a bottle around with you I guess depends how many miles you are going to do before getting home. You will have some sort of warning, depending on model. See your handbook. And then you don’t have to fill immediately, but you do need to fill before final warning, otherwise the van will go “poof” and turn into a pumpkin.
Ad blu also needs to be kept dark and has a shelf life.

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[WoldsSunlight]

Just use the AdBlu pumps which most fuel stations have colocated with the HGV diesel pumps, plenty around.

 

[Lenny HB]

Ducato Low Ad Blue warning light comes on at 50% so plenty of time to fill, easier to do it at a pump.

 

[rob1234]

hi i just filled mine up for the first time ,,i used a little hand pump from ebay £5 worked a treat i just checked on the dash to make sure when it says 100% then stopped

 

[Verteuil Man]

Never put Ad Blue into another container other than the one it came in. Any dirt or liquid residue in a container will contaminate the Ad Blue ( commonly known as Weasel Pxxs in the transport world). This can cost many hard earned pounds to correct. Also do not spill any onto paintwork.

 

[carolyn]

Our new van is our first with Adblu. It’s a Fiat and the Adblu filler is by the diesel filler. The monitor is on the dash amongst the menu settings which we’ve got in the habit of checking regularly as we were a bit nervous about it to start with.

It only shows 100, 75, 25 % and presumably 0. It had been filled when we collected it on the 1st of August. We’ve now done 4,800 miles through Bulgaria Romania and back. Filling at a pump was very easy in Germany but after that they were a rare sight. The only way we could find one was by buying a 5litre container. We would then immediately see a pump! Sod’s Law I believe.

We’ve put in 22 litres and it’s full now on the drive.

We carried a back up 5 litres with us.

Far more pumps in Northern Europe than East.

I have no idea if that’s a lot of Adblu but it was a brand new van.

We were very neurotic about it the first month we were away. It was easy to fill with the containers.

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[VXman]

I tend to fill it up at home from a bought containerful before a trip of any significance. I also carry a couple of 5 litres. Mainly because its easier than searching for a station somewhere and cheaper if you carefully source your containers of adblue.

Yes it can be messy but if you fill up carefully and wipe up any spills immediately (have a cloth handy) then it's not an issue.

 

[Lenny HB]

We’ve put in 22 litres and it’s full now on the drive.

We carried a back up 5 litres with us.

Far more pumps in Northern Europe than East.

I have no idea if that’s a lot of Adblu but it was a brand new van.

Sounds about right our is doing about 170 miles per litre.

 

[Pausim]

Do not buy Adblue containers from a forecourt where they are left outside in the sun. Sunlight is very bad for Adblue.

 

[enark]

Do not drink it……

 

[Paul F]

Watch out for extortionate fuel station prices of 4, 5 or 10 litre bottles. I have seen it as high as £3.50 a litre sold in that way.

I always use the pump at BP stations which is usually half price or less, and no bottles to carry around with bits left over!

Most large BP stations have an Adblue pump.

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[Chris116]

Excuse my ignorance, but I am a complete newby to using Adblu having chosen a moho without it the last time round. Now we have just bought a Ducato based moho with the "benefit" of Adblu and I have few questions related to use.
1) Is it best to carry a container of Adblu with you or rely on refilling regularly at petrol stations?
2) Is it easy enough to refill. I read somewhere that it is nasty stuff to handle?
3) What is this about formation of crystals? Should I be worried or is there a way to avoid it?

I’ve been there myself and so share your initial concerns about Adblu.
Best advice I can give you is keep the Adblu topped up I top up at around 50%. There will be a gauge in the instruments and shown in the handbook, it’s on the dash for our 22 Ducato looks like a rain cloud! This reduces the need to carry any around with you depending on the length of your trip. Motorhomes use much more than the family car.
It’s easy to fill from a 10ltr container with a spout provided and the filler neck is next to the diesel filler, mop up any spills and you won’t have any problems.
I just buy from supermarkets and Screwfix etc when it’s on offer as it’s the cheapest option obviously fuel station forecourts are a needs must too.
If you get to a certain low level you’ll get an “engine will shut down in x miles” warning keeping topped up avoids this and reduces any risk of crystallisation in the tank. I let mine run down in the car until i got the warning, topped up then got an Adblu fault warning I think that was due to crystallisation but luckily it cleared itself.

 

[clonkel]

PaulandChrissy do some great products. The water funnel and the AdBlu funnel is great. Not affiliated just a very happy customer

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[Wh05apk]

Just filled mine today from a pump, far easier than messing with containers, I put in 16 lts whereas with a container it would only have been 10.

The best thing is it was only 55c a litre, annoyingly it was 37c a mile down the road in peniscola.

 

[Lenny HB]

Just filled mine today from a pump, far easier than messing with containers, I put in 16 lts whereas with a container it would only have been 10.

The best thing is it was only 55c a litre, annoyingly it was 37c a mile down the road in peniscola.

Thats cheap where are you?
I paid €1.29 in Spain just over a week ago.

 

[Wh05apk]

Thats cheap where are you?
I paid €1.29 in Spain just over a week ago.

Peniscola, heading home.

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[Pausim]

annoyingly it was 37c a mile down the road in peniscola.

Peniscola creates a mind picture of an attendant peeing into the Adblue tank, so 37c seems a bit pricy. OK it is probably only my mind that thinks that way, I apologise and will now go and sit quietly in the corner.

 

[fred_jb]

We carry a 10 litre container and replace as soon as possible after using. We find it seems to uses more when doing long high speed motorway and autoroute stints which I guess is to be expected. We have also filled up at AdBlue pumps in France, but we had a price shock at one supermarket when we spotted and used the AdBlue pump at the truck pumps.

You may be familiar with the tendency at petrol stations in some European countries to reserve a maximum amount on your credit card and then replace that with the actual amount a few days later. Well it seems that they do that for AdBlue too, but seemingly because it was a truck pump we were initially deducted about 300 Euros for around 10 litres! It was all sorted as usual, and only cost about 8 Euros in the end, but was a bit of a shock at the time!

 

[Paul F]

Sounds about right our is doing about 170 miles per litre.

Very frugal - I only get 100 miles per litre. Probably proportionate to diesel use though.

 

[Wh05apk]

Peniscola creates a mind picture of an attendant peeing into the Adblue tank, so 37c seems a bit pricy. OK it is probably only my mind that thinks that way, I apologise and will now go and sit quietly in the corner.

Probably not too far wrong, Peniscola does seem a bit of a dump!

 

[LostInSpace]

Our new Fiat based A-Class shows the Adblu level on the instrument cluster - a dozen 'blobs' just like the fuel guage.

Easy to fill using the containers from Halfords (inside the store).

No need to carry any. It goes down quite slowly.

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[funflair]

Very frugal - I only get 100 miles per litre. Probably proportionate to diesel use though.

Most likely pro rata to diesel use though about the same as us

 

[WESTY66]

Oh and if you put it in the diesel tank by mistake (yes it’s been done) DO NOT START THE ENGINE!!! Adblu is heavier than diesel and sinks straight to the pick up pipe and if you get it in the injectors wave bye bye to a fair few thousand pounds!!
If you get it crystallising on or around the filler you can clean it by hot water from a kettle (I clean the adblu nozzle regular doing this)

 

[POH]

Just use the AdBlu pumps which most fuel stations have colocated with the HGV diesel pumps, plenty around.

Not at Skelton Lake services, no ad blue pump on normal pumps but there is on HGV pumps BUT you need a hgv fuel card to use them, only found out when I needed to top up .

 

[Lenny HB]

Oh and if you put it in the diesel tank by mistake (yes it’s been done) DO NOT START THE ENGINE!!! Adblu is heavier than diesel and sinks straight to the pick up pipe and if you get it in the injectors wave bye bye to a fair few thousand pounds!!
If you get it crystallising on or around the filler you can clean it by hot water from a kettle (I clean the adblu nozzle regular doing this)

But your old banger doesn't have Ad Blue.

 

[WESTY66]

But your old banger doesn't have Ad Blue.

Yes, I know, thank f### for that