Adblue - refilling issues?

[Jay586]

The orange "I need attention" light is on again. I'm going to contact a dealer in the morning. However, the previous 2 lights were related to an adblue sensor & VW Assist fixed it.

Bit of a vague question but does anyone else have a similar issue?

 

[Alan Andrews]

get a vcds full scan before you take to the garage. this will give you a complete view of this and any other issues/faults

 

[Jay586]

Is that the scan that VW Assist do?

It's booked in now.

 

[Alan Andrews]

VW assist may use different tools. And as they are linked to VW, you might not get to see the full scan report.

VCDS is provided by an independent company called Ross-Tech.

The VCDS tool is very good in diagnosing and reporting on errors. And you can save/print a full report that you can then understand yourself.

VCDS also allows you to interrogate and test individual components.

I have the vcds tool, but I think you are too far away.

The California Club provides a discounted hire charge for the vcds tool. You might need VIP membership to qualify.

Otherwise put out a message in the forum to see if there is anyone local to you with the vcds diagnostics tool.

 

[Jay586]

Thank you!

 

[VW Guru]

Hi just a couple of questions is your fuel tank always above a quarter of a tank ? And when you fill up with adblue do u fill up with exactly what it instrucs on the dash?

 

[Jay586]

No to the first question. We run it too low, I think. Could this be an issue?

The adblue. We pour it in, then turn the ignition key for 30seconds. I think that's what the instructions say, but I'm not the best with reading instructions.

Before the last light, the adblue indicator dropped from 2000 miles to 750 & then went back to 2000. I was advised to fill it up, so we did...currently at 5000 miles.

Ta.

 

[Stoneybroke]

OdbEleven or Carista dongles are available to plug in to the Diagnostic port which will, on your phone, give a read of of the error codes and help you know what's going wrong. A simpler version of the VCDS set up.

 

[VW Guru]

No to the first question. We run it too low, I think. Could this be an issue?

The adblue. We pour it in, then turn the ignition key for 30seconds. I think that's what the instructions say, but I'm not the best with reading instructions.

Before the last light, the adblue indicator dropped from 2000 miles to 750 & then went back to 2000. I was advised to fill it up, so we did...currently at 5000 miles.

Ta.

Hi so two problems there first of all if the fuel level droppes below a quarter of a tank the dpf will not regenerate and will put the engine light on. It used to be that you would get a dpf light up on the dash and this would indicate the vehicle needs help to carry out a regen, this was not a fault light it was just a I need help light. The problem now is this light will not illuminate below a quarter of a tank due to a software change and the vehicle will not regen belota quarter of a tank due to the fuel not cooling enough during the process. If it is the case that the regen has not happened due to low fuel then this is not covered by warranty.

Adblue is a different issue on the dash the vehicle will display how much adblue it requires either in liters or gallons depending on your country but this can be changed by the user. The adblue level is worked out by an ultra sonic sensor the problem with this is if you over fill the adblue then the tank thinks it’s empty and the system shuts down. The adblue tank on your vehicle holds 13 liters if it is a case that the tank has been over filled then this is not covered by warranty. The system has to be drained and reset then refilled. I would always advise to that if you are filling using a bottle then look on the dash to see how much it needs and pour in 1/2 a liter less than it asks for. If you fill the tank up and it comes up out of the filler neck then it’s over full and the system will shut down.

I hope this helps

 

[Jay586]

That is very helpful.

It's definitely been trying to regenerate. If this is the case, ie that you can't use the entire tank of fuel without it causing an issue, surely we should be told this as I, for one, would have it topped up if I knew. Sigh.

Is it damaged or is it just needing the light reset?

I was super-careful and added less than a full 10 litres as there was some dispute about exactly how empty it was. It registered 5500 after filling, which I was happy with, so I suspect it's the first issue not the adblue this time.

Appreciate the help. I like to go into battle armed!

 

[VW Guru]

That is very helpful.

It's definitely been trying to regenerate. If this is the case, ie that you can't use the entire tank of fuel without it causing an issue, surely we should be told this as I, for one, would have it topped up if I knew. Sigh.

Is it damaged or is it just needing the light reset?

I was super-careful and added less than a full 10 litres as there was some dispute about exactly how empty it was. It registered 5500 after filling, which I was happy with, so I suspect it's the first issue not the adblue this time.

Appreciate the help. I like to go into battle armed!

Hi we as dealers were only told of the quarter of a tank issue about 2 months ago even we had not been given the info from the factory so go easy on your dealer

 

[Jay586]

I think I got a bit worried then when you said about not being a warranty issue, imagining a big bill.

I'm lovely, honest!

 

[Ting Tong]

The problem now is this light will not illuminate below a quarter of a tank due to a software change and the vehicle will not regen belota quarter of a tank due to the fuel not cooling enough during the process. If it is the case that the regen has not happened due to low fuel then this is not covered by warranty.

The adblue tank on your vehicle holds 13 liters if it is a case that the tank has been over filled then this is not covered by warranty. The system has to be drained and reset then refilled.

Sorry to jump in on your post @Jay586 and please keep us posted of the outcome. Also excellent advice from @Vw guru as always thanks BUT both of your points reproduced above completely astound me and are worthy of a thread of their own, which I’ll start later when I’m back on a PC.

 

[Stoneybroke]

@Vw guru
Is that a full regeneration - i.e. go for a run for however many minutes at a certain speed, or the more regular fan-on one?
My tank was needling the red line at the end of last week and went into the regular 1000 rev, fan blowing mode... Full service in October, so I assume all software is up to date.

Ad-Blue? (Edited - just read your original post inmore detail!)
That is quite worrying, the needs to be a clearer warning.. thanks for your Guru's insight

 

[Jay586]

Feel free to add any comments here, I don't mind this thread wandering about as you always learn summat!

 

[Nick Stubbs]

Filled my T6 up with Add blue the other week and necked it, not had issues with the level sender as mentioned on a previous post.

 

[VW Guru]

Filled my T6 up with Add blue the other week and necked it, not had issues with the level sender as mentioned on a previous post.

Hi you maybe lucky but be careful when filling as I have had to repair a lot of T6 variant vehicles because of an adblue overfill.

 

[Nick Stubbs]

Thanks for the heads up..

 

[Amarillo]

Wow! Great information Guru. I always use an AdBlue pump and fill until the pump stops. Is this OK?


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[VW Guru]

@Vw guru
Is that a full regeneration - i.e. go for a run for however many minutes at a certain speed, or the more regular fan-on one?
My tank was needling the red line at the end of last week and went into the regular 1000 rev, fan blowing mode... Full service in October, so I assume all software is up to date.

Ad-Blue? Please clarify comments about following the MFD instructions. It tells us amount required, distance to go, then I fill up when I know it will take 10 litres. Should I be doing anything else?

Hi @Stoneybroke full or partial regeneration can happen in the background while driving the drive regeneration is when it used to ask for help that no longer happens below a quarter of a tank

Wow! Great information Guru. I always use an AdBlue pump and fill until the pump stops. Is this OK?

Always check what the dash says about the fill quantity and fill it accordingly minus about 1/2 a liter we have pimps in the workshop and always fill according to the dash instructions otherwise it will cause a system failure.

Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[Eber123]

Good evening,

I went through all the posts, and now I am puzzled

If I drive the tank lower than a quarter I get problems in Form of getting error / warning messages on the dashboard, which are difficult to get rid off.

If that is the case that would be terrible. A vehicle that is build for long distance travelling can only use three quarter of a tank?

Also refill of AdBlue is a gamble? If something goes wrong it had to be repaired?

The VW T6 is a Transporter for couriers, builders and craftsmen. The vehicle has to work with minimal effort put in by the driver. If this is not the case the van has to go.

I start to get a wee bit nervous about the VW California, it seems that it is to fragile, certainly more fragile then I expected.

Before Christmas I plan to replace tyres and will ask my dealer and at the weekend I will send an email to VW Nutzfahrzeuge in Hannover for their opinion.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Jay586]

I think that was my thoughts, if it's perilous to let the tank empty, then the fuel light should be set for that level.

But really, one of the advantages for me was infrequent refilling...which I will now rethink but is a bit of a pita.

I will report what happens but it's not going in for a week.

 

[Amarillo]

My MFD always gives me an AdBlue refill range: it might be min 1.00 gal to max 1.50 gal (multiply min by 5 and max by 4 to convert to litres).

Next time I refill at the pump I will check that the pump refills to within this range before cutting out.

It is unhelpful that the display gives the refill range in gallons but AdBlue is sold in litres. I know that I can change to litres, but then the cruise control will be in Km/h and UK speed limits are in mph. Oh the quirks of British motoring!!!


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[VW Guru]

My MFD always gives me an AdBlue refill range: it might be min 1.00 gal to max 1.50 gal (multiply min by 5 and max by 4 to convert to litres).

Next time I refill at the pump I will check that the pump refills to within this range before cutting out.

It is unhelpful that the display gives the refill range in gallons but AdBlue is sold in litres. I know that I can change to litres, but then the cruise control will be in Km/h and UK speed limits are in mph. Oh the quirks of British motoring!!!


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

Hi you can change your dash to liters to convert it go to settings- units change it to liters/km and it will give you the info. Also if the pump clicks out then the tank will be over full unfortunately.

 

[Jay586]

That's an accident waiting to happen then. If normal use & common practice leads to issues, that's bad on the part of VW.