OT: "Adblue"

[The Natural Philosopher]

No. just lean. And these days with turbos even when they are working hard.

[Andy Burns]

Typically I notice it in 5l plastic jerry cans on the forecourt, larger containers if it's a 'trucker' garage.

I can think of one Waitrose petrol station (operated by Gulf) that has a separate adblue pump from the petrol/diesel, it looks 'complicated' in that you have to use an up/down slider to adjust the height of the unit, there's no exposed hose (to stop it freezing?) and there seems to be an interlock to retain/release the actual nozzle more than a normal pump.

[Tim Lamb]

I have got a portable one of those!

[Tim Lamb]

Small cautionary tale.. one of my workshop tenants has a big Mercedes camper van bought second hand. Shortly after purchase, he discovered that the dashboard red warning light indicated a fault with the AdBlue system. On investigation, this turned out to be a faulty tank heater. Mercedes spares are 'kin expensive!

[rick]

On new cars with Diesel engines, the only way they can reach the emission requirements is to have this additive. Had it on my current car ..... only put it in twice in 2 years - doesn't use much. Car will fail to start if you don't add it.

Yes all garages sell it

In simple terms its diluted Urea .. and the tiny quantity adding to exhaust turns NOx into Nitrogen & water.

[charles]

err, no. My nearly 5yo Mazda diesel meets TfL emission requirements. I don't use blue or any other coloured addative.

[NY]

My 12-year-old Peugeot with a 1.6 HDi engine has some sort of "pouch" that contains a liquid that helps with "depollution". I only know this because the pouch once split, causing the car to go into "limp home" mode just as I'd pulled out from a side road with plenty of space ahead of the HGV... until the engine died just as I was getting up to speed.

I've always wondered what the pouch contains. It can't be anything like AdBlue because it's not user-refillable and this happened at about 100,000 miles when it's never feed fed anything more than diesel; nor did a service ever list any consumable liquid other than engine oil.

My wife was worried that it may not be allowed even as far as the park-and-ride on the outskirts of the city where she works, once they bring in a pollution tax - so she'd never be able to borrow it when her own car had to go in for a service. Covid has caused that little problem to go away, given that everyone is now working from home. I'll be heartbroken the day my Pug finally becomes uneconomic to repair (I've had a couple of scares - eg new diesel particulate filter and cat), because it is a wonderful car to drive - far more responsive that my wife's Honda: it actually has low-end torque like all diesels should have, which her car, with a similar size engine but probably turbo-boosted to within an inch of its life, seems to be sadly lacking, so it needs second gear on the slightest hill or when accelerating out of a roundabout.

[Tim+]

Um, no contradiction involved. Rick said ?new cars?. 5 years ago many diesel didn?t have adblue systems. Post Dieselgate, most, if not all, do.

Tim

[Tim+]

It seems it?s to just clean the particulate filter rather than to catalytically reduce NOx production.

You should try an EV. ;-)

Of course, not for everyone at the moment but the power delivery is wonderful with no hesitation and no faffing around with gears.

Tim

[Bob Eager]

It's tuned that way, but the fuel consumption is claimed to be better with the AdBlue mechanism.

For ULEZ in London, it must conforem to Euro 6. At 5 yrs old, I doubt it meets that. My AdBlue car does.

[Bob Eager]

I would if I had off street parking.

[Andy Burns]

Several diesels up to 8 years old (admittedly more choice at 6 years old) meet EU6.

[NY]

What puts me off pure EVs (as opposed to hybrids) is the very long charging time (if I can't add another 700 miles in under 5 minutes, as I can with my diesel car, I'm not interested) and the very poor range between fillings.

Most of the time, a range of a hundred miles or so and an overnight charge would not be an issue, but there's always the time when I need to make a long journey with minimal stops (eg drive 250 miles to see parents, stopping just for loo breaks and maybe change of driver). There's also the little social problem of how you refuel at a friend's/relative's house, using their electricity, and work out how much to recompense them. ;-)

When (if) they solve the refuelling and range problems, then I'll definitely be getting an EV.

[Tim+]

We have another car just for such purposes but it?s scarcely turned a wheel since we?ve had the EV. Mostly because we haven?t been on any really long trips (longest so far 200 miles) but also because we?re prepared to plan stops as required to allow us to use the EV rather than pay huge sums for fuel for the ICE car.

We might dispose of the ICE and just hire an ICE car when needed.

Tim

[charles]

My engine is sufficiently new not to need adblue.

[charles]

It does - according to the TfL website.

[charles]

That was my Plan A, but it appears that when you are 80, car hire becomes difficult.

[Chris Hogg]

+1

But being as that's unlikely to happen in my lifetime, I'll probably never have one.

[Dave Plowman (News]

I do wonder how many diesels that meet this spec on paper actually do?

[Tim+]

The thing is, you?re all fixating on rapid refuelling and not accepting that there might be good reasons to put up with the inconvenience of recharging.

If you could buy fuel at a penny a litre (but from a slow pump), don?t you think that you might just decide to break your long journeys with long coffee break? I mean, on a long journey of 400 miles say you?d almost certainly stopping for a meal break so your increase in journey time needn?t be as long as you think. Of course that?s an exaggeration of the economy but I?m just making the point that when you say ?I couldn?t live with slow refuelling?, there might be factors that would make it tolerable.

Add in the fact that EVs are generally just so much nicer to drive then you have another reason to plan your journey and departure time to allow you take the EV.

In addition you might consider the mechanical simplicity, the reduced service costs and lack of brake wear more reasons.

Anyway, for sure the re-charge time is an issue but when balanced up against cheap fuel and all the other factors, it?s just an occasional inconvenience, not a show stopper unless you?re determined to make it one.

Tim