What is Adblue and why do I need it ?
What is Adblue and why do I need it ?
The most common questions customers ask us at Jim Reid Service Centre when the purchase or own a diesel car are about AdBlue.
What does it do? Can I drive my diesel car without it?
Since 2014 most diesel cars and vans have been built with Adblue systems in them, this is to help reduce harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere. Let me explain how it works.
If you have ever bought Adblue or seen it for sale a fuel station you will see that it normally is sold in quite large 10 litre containers and the liquid itself looks clear like water. Adblue is a carefully created mix of one third Urea diluted with two thirds de-ionised water hence why it has that waterlike appearance.
The emission system within your diesel car is set up to inject this mixture into your car’s hot exhaust system forming ammonia which reacts with the nitrogen oxide which is present in the exhaust. These are then turned into harmless oxygen, nitrogen and steam which is released safely into the atmosphere via your cars exhaust.
Ultimately Adble helps clean up exhausts fumes which have been proven to cause respiratory problems in the young , the old and those with underlying health issues. In short it helps clean up the emissions that are produced by diesel vehicles and come out the exhaust as waste.
Most diesel cars will come with an Adblue Countdown warning system, that will warn you in advance that you are running low on Adblue. This will usually be in the form of how many Litres you have left, or how many miles you have left before it needs topped up.
Do not ignore these messages, when the car says it will not restart in 100 miles if you don’t fill with Adblue, that’s exactly what will happen, it will not restart!
You will be unable to drive your car or van without having sufficient Adblue in the Adblue tank.
This brings me nicely to the next piece of advice. Most newer cars have the Adblue filler conveniently situated next to the diesel filler cap. Despite this being a continuous reminder that you will need Adblue at some point the fact they are close to each other has caused some problems in the past. It is very important not to put Adblue directly into the diesel tank, if you do this in error then do not start the car! If you do it will cause catastrophic issues with your fuel system.
The Adblue filler is the ‘blue’ cap, once removed then carefully pour your newly purchased Adblue into the tank using the filler pipe fitted to the bottle of Adblue. Now I must admit this isn’t the easiest thing to do without spilling which is not only wasteful but unless cleaned up can be very messy as the Adblue crystalizes. It’s also very important not to overfill your Adblue tank as this can cause issues with the level sensors, so unlike filling your car with windscreen washer fluid, do not keep pouring until it’s coming out the top, only fill with exactly the amount the car will ask for on the information display.
Not confident filling up ? It’s absolutely fine there are quite a number of diesel drivers out there who never fill the Adblue themselves instead they will contact our Service Centre on 01467 634000 or drop in past, buy the Adblue from and one of our fully trained staff members will do this for you free of charge.
If you want any more information on Adblue or if you have an issue with an Adblue light or message displaying on your dash even after filling then please get in touch by emailing [email protected]