Leaving tank more than 1/4 full

[Legin]

It doesn’t need/ have the Webasto engine coolant pre heater but it does have a petrol Eberspacher for cabin heating, which is superb.

I bet it doesnt smell as much either.

 

[Lightning]

I bet it doesnt smell as much either.

Not at all.

 

[Jabberwocky]

........and with all this must do this, should do that advice from VW can anyone tell me why VW sell Adblue in 1.89 litre bottles (According to the slip in my users manual). Handy eh, when the dash display tells you to add min/max gallons! Give me/us a break!!!

 

[blondebier]

I’m glad mine is petrol.

They're pretty thirsty aren't they? How many miles do you get out of a tank?

 

[Lightning]

They're pretty thirsty aren't they? How many miles do you get out of a tank?

That is the only downside I have found...
It varies a lot. When I was doing lots of short urban running around interspersed with a few high speed motorway runs I averaged just over 23 mpg.
Now, I’m having career break with a much reduced income, so I care more and am in no rush, so I drive on motorways on cruise at 60 and am doing less short urban runs and it’s increased to about 29/30 mpg. This is with 18 inch all weather wheels and tyres and fully loaded with water etc most of the time, so I’m happy. It’s a 204 DSG and lovely to drive.

 

[Lightning]

That is the only downside I have found...
It varies a lot. When I was doing lots of short urban running around interspersed with a few high speed motorway runs I averaged just over 23 mpg.
Now, I’m having career break with a much reduced income, so I care more and am in no rush, so I drive on motorways on cruise at 60 and am doing less short urban runs and it’s increased to about 29/30 mpg. This is with 18 inch all weather wheels and tyres and fully loaded with water etc most of the time, so I’m happy. It’s a 204 DSG and lovely to drive.

 

[Lightning]

Oh blimey please

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I only meant to post the range photo...that could have been a lot worse....

 

[Nolan]

It won't rev above 2500 revvs when stationary, but on a rolling road ?

UK MOT is just stationary, that's the pointless part of it as who cares what a car does at full throttle in neutral for several seconds? not something it will ever do in normal use and the load cases may be completely different (hence VW getting in all sorts of trouble).

While this may be good advice I can't see busy tradespeople (the main customer of the T6) being able to keep to it religiously. Also what do we do when buying secondhand, will VW be including a list of 'missed' regens in their secondhand 'Das Welt' stock (presumably the ECU does track some of this)?

 

[WelshGas]

........and with all this must do this, should do that advice from VW can anyone tell me why VW sell Adblue in 1.89 litre bottles (According to the slip in my users manual). Handy eh, when the dash display tells you to add min/max gallons! Give me/us a break!!!

They want you to go metric.

 

[Jabberwocky]

They want you to go metric.

Then the Adblue dash display should be metric too.......?

 

[WelshGas]

Then the Adblue dash display should be metric too.......?

It would be if you changed to Litres rather than Gallons via the MFD.

 

[Borris]

Then the Adblue dash display should be metric too.......?

You can temporarily change the units to metric on the MFD. Then it will tell you how many litres of adblue that you need to feed it.

 

[Jabberwocky]

It would be if you changed to Litres rather than Gallons via the MFD.

You can temporarily change the units to metric on the MFD. Then it will tell you how many litres of adblue that you need to feed it.

Indeed, but even that's a faff, and 1.89 litre refill bottles - nice metric number (not!) that neither aligns with the metric or imperial increments on the MFD so you almost certainly have to buy more than you need. Just call me picky and I'll get my coat! Sorry I just had enough of the idiosyncrasies of VW today.

 

[Meoncoast]

Personally I do not have an issue. I just add 10 litre of Adblue about 3 times a year. I fill up with fuel about once a week more often if away. Occasionally below a quarter of a tank. My only issue is the total lack of Adblue pumps in UK filling station's. Think the garages rather try and sell you at lnflated bottle price rather than that at pump price. Most expensive 10 litre bottle spotted on a forecourt £24.

 

[GrannyJen]

As I've said before, once it tells you that you can get 21/4 gallons in, one 10l container, in it goes, job done. Takes 5 minutes and good for another 4,000 miles.

 

[Toothlessjon]

60 odd k for a vehicle that breaks down if it’s less than a 1/4 full! What piece of junk have I bought, we are not living in the 1930s. If this is true they have a lot of explaining to do and compensation claims coming their way especially to existing owners if they have not been advised of this problem at the time of purchase. If they have an design issue it needs resolving properly, not “ make sure you keep the van fuel up to 25%”. If I had a fleet of vans how would I be expected to monitor this, who will pay me to monitor it? This really must be an April fools joke.

 

[B J G]

60 odd k for a vehicle that breaks down if it’s less than a 1/4 full! What piece of junk have I bought, we are not living in the 1930s. If this is true they have a lot of explaining to do and compensation claims coming their way especially to existing owners if they have not been advised of this problem at the time of purchase. If they have an design issue it needs resolving properly, not “ make sure you keep the van fuel up to 25%”. If I had a fleet of vans how would I be expected to monitor this, who will pay me to monitor it? This really must be an April fools joke.

Simple remedy would have been to fit an efficient fuel cooler, but that needed design and production costs probably running into millions of Euros as a modification. A fag packet job in days gone by.

probably the 6.1 has one. BUT is that giving VW some credit?

 

[gadgetman44]

I've just pick up my Cali Ocean and the last thing the dealer advised me to do re the Adblu is to make sure I don't over fill it, as this can lead to a faulty sensor reading which will require the van to be taken to a garage to either reset the sensor or replace it!

 

[Wolfie]

........and with all this must do this, should do that advice from VW can anyone tell me why VW sell Adblue in 1.89 litre bottles (According to the slip in my users manual). Handy eh, when the dash display tells you to add min/max gallons! Give me/us a break!!!

1.89 litres equals 4 US pints or 0.5 US gallons, which is not the same as a UK pint or UK gallon. I believe ad blue units will be the same as those you have set for fuel consumption in the units section of the MFD.

Assuming your fuel consumption is in mpg, you could convert UK gallons to litres using a calculator. However if you check this value against changing the MFD units to litres it doesn’t quite give the same value due to VW process of rounding. For example, my ad blue information gives
min: 0.75 gal - max: 1.25 gal
min: 3.25 litres - max: 5.75 litres (changing the MFD units to litres/100km)
min: 3.41 litres - max: 5.68 litres (using a calculator)

Both conversions are fine at these values. The MFD units must be fine as they’re given by VW, so no warranty issues. Also the calculator conversions are greater than the minimum and less the maximum of the MFD converted values so the ad blue won’t be under or over filled. It will be interesting to know whether this is true for other min-max values given in gallons.

In practice, the easiest thing to do is, as WG has suggested, just convert to litres using the MFD and then fill up at a petrol station If you can.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I think you have confirmed my point its a real dogs breakfast. We should have to do all this converting. VW must be able to come up with a better solution. My Adblue display currently says Min 1.25gals - Max 1.25 gals adding more angst. If I were to top up now what tolerance have I got on the 1.25 gals stated?

 

[Sunstoner]

Does this '1\4 tank full' nonsense pertain to the 6.1 too?

Along with the Adblue management, high potential roof corrosion im beginning to wonder what Im buying (Picking up in feb) for £60k+.

Real world, am i going to have to be nannying my first Cali??

Still excited but these thing dont half attempt to take the sheen off a first Cali purchase.

 

[Wolfie]

I think you have confirmed my point its a real dogs breakfast. We should have to do all this converting. VW must be able to come up with a better solution. My Adblue display currently says Min 1.25gals - Max 1.25 gals adding more angst. If I were to top up now what tolerance have I got on the 1.25 gals stated?

It would be interesting to know if you get two identical values by converting to litres using the MFD.

 

[Eber123]

Good afternoon,

It is frustrating that normal day-to-day maintenance of the California is complicated. As Sunstoner pointed out:

• To fill up AdBlue needs to be carefully done
• In general keep the tank filled up at least 1/4
• Issues with the roof corrosion

As part of the decision making I discussed with my wife the additional work that has to be put into the van, in comparison to a car:

• Look after the water tanks (fresh and brown). Re-fill in time, clean it etc.
• Ensure that the batteries are in good nick (get them charged approx. every month)
• Check the gas cooker regularly
• Check that no water (condensation, rain) made it's way into the van

For the moment this is all I can think of, but I am sure it is more.

In comparison I look more after the California than I did for example with the Tiguan, which I had for over 5x years. As pointed out above, few things are a bit confusing and VW maybe could have found a better solution, they charge enough for the van (2020, 150 HP, DSG, California Ocean, T6.1, dual colour EUR 81.000 ((I am not kitting)).

I try to approach this a bit like a hobby looking after the van. It can be fun if there is a nice afternoon to switch on the radio, get a cup of tea and look after the van.

Happy California,
Eberhard

 

[Jabberwocky]

I try to approach this a bit like a hobby looking after the van. It can be fun if there is a nice afternoon to switch on the radio, get a cup of tea and look after the van.

Happy California,
Eberhard

Yes, I take this approach too although I might replace the tea with beer on occasions!

 

[Jabberwocky]

It would be interesting to know if you get two identical values by converting to litres using the MFD.

Interesting indeed.