Ad-Blue - 650 mile countdown comes and then goes off

[jimc91]

When I had this problem I went to VW Croydon, they said they had never come across this problem before and said they would need the van for diagnostics, as it had reset I declined as I didn’t want them suggesting expensive possible fixes on a problem they hadn’t seen before. I’d be interested to know in your dealings with VW have they confirmed that this is a problem they are seeing regularly now and what made them think a software update would fix it.

 

[Ayjay]

I think the number of cases which get reported here and elsewhere probably indicates a widespread problem and VW Croydon are just lying to you. Believe or not that’s not unheard of where main dealers are involved.

 

[Ayjay]

@jimc91. PS. Did it ever come back or did you get it sorted in the end?

 

[jimc91]

@jimc91. PS. Did it ever come back or did you get it sorted in the end?

It reset itself and didn’t come back but I have this theory that once I get to France again and get more than 650 miles from a port it will return

 

[jimc91]

I think the number of cases which get reported here and elsewhere probably indicates a widespread problem and VW Croydon are just lying to you. Believe or not that’s not unheard of where main dealers are involved.

I don’t think so, it was a couple of years ago and I haven’t had it come back, they may now be seeing it more often. Generally I find the service manager there on his game, he’s been very open with his views on the egr system and warranty claims and how VW head office delay hoping the warranty expires before they have to do more than a flush. That said my all in plan runs out next month so will need to find a decent independent

 

[Savagenoize]

Mine does the 650 mile error countdown when using the ACC, comes on after about 50 miles, always goes off again eventually, as I just ignore it. Was a little worrying when once it got down as low as 50 miles. But if I don't use the ACC it never comes on.

 

[Ayjay]

@Savagenoize - I haven't got ACC!

 

[Ayjay]

Only did a short 20 mile run this morning but it's still on 600 miles range left! I've said it before and I'll say it again, fecking VWs!

 

[PlanB]

@PlanB. Part of me is hoping that as happened when we were in France last year, it will correct itself at some point and go back up to T least 4000. That said my warranty runs out in a couple of months (can’t remember when exactly) so I will need together it sorted before it ends - doesn’t bode well for holidays though. I also fell like I’m beginning to feel a touch of Adblue system delete coming on.

The simple fact that in the 83,000 miles I have done in my T6 from new, 2 of the 3 times the fault has popped up was after 250 miles of M6 solely on cruise from Blackpool to the Scottish border. For it to ping within fifteen miles of the last time has convinced me that style of journey is the problem.
First time it cleared in 50 miles, and last week took 600.

I purposely filled the Ad Blue 3 weeks before leaving to make sure it was all settled in.
For the fault to appear twice after 5 hours at 70mph sounds bonkers to me .... but this is VW and emissions we're talking about, so all bets are off.

 

[Keith 81]

I’ve had the same issue in the last 3 years of ownership there’s some threads of mine on it in that time replaced egr and pipes and related sensors inlet manifold ,removed cleaned adblue injector and tank and removed exhaust to check dpf is clear none of that has made any difference it usually clears within 200 miles of it appearing convinced it’s related to regen and higher rpm .Just had it come back and it would not reset even after regen and 300 miles scanned with vcds had odd maf sensor fault replaced sensor and it cleared in 20 miles or so. Problem is literally any fault in regards to Fuel /air mix ratio and scr administration and monitoring throw up the same generic codes and faults very hard to diagnose

 

[PlanB]

I’ve had the same issue in the last 3 years of ownership there’s some threads of mine on it in that time replaced egr and pipes and related sensors inlet manifold ,removed cleaned adblue injector and tank and removed exhaust to check dpf is clear none of that has made any difference it usually clears within 200 miles of it appearing convinced it’s related to regen and higher rpm .Just had it come back and it would not reset even after regen and 300 miles scanned with vcds had odd maf sensor fault replaced sensor and it cleared in 20 miles or so. Problem is literally any fault in regards to Fuel /air mix ratio and scr administration and monitoring throw up the same generic codes and faults very hard to diagnose

Yep, take it on a long run to prevent DPF issues, but only do short runs to avoid Ad blue woes.
I'm starting to think it's all been engineered in as a cash register.
My inlet manifold was replaced because it was "sooty"? No option to clean and re-fit it because of the warranty they put on their work.

VAG really do seem to me to be digging their own grave which saddens me after all these years driving their motors.

 

[Stay Frosty]

If we cut VW some slack the pollution limits imposed on 100 yr old diesel technology by increasingly severe legislation is leading to the inevitable demise of burning oil to get from A to B.
I hate to sound all Zen but the wife and I have just walked the mile each way to our local Sainsbury here in Northampton and the amount of cars containing just one person but throwing out enough laughing gas, soot and plain unburnt fuel to count as chemical warfare is unreal.
If a used Id Buzz wasn't still the best part of 40 bags and more suitable for a camper I'd get one tomorrow, sod the internal combustion engine.

 

[PlanB]

If we cut VW some slack the pollution limits imposed on 100 yr old diesel technology by increasingly severe legislation is leading to the inevitable demise of burning oil to get from A to B.
I hate to sound all Zen but the wife and I have just walked the mile each way to our local Sainsbury here in Northampton and the amount of cars containing just one person but throwing out enough laughing gas, soot and plain unburnt fuel to count as chemical warfare is unreal.
If a used Id Buzz wasn't still the best part of 40 bags and more suitable for a camper I'd get one tomorrow, sod the internal combustion engine.

Having had 2 holidays on the bounce ruined because of this known issue, forgive me for not wanting to cut VW some slack.
I pay over £42 per month for my All In warranty, and they wouldn't even attend until I broke down.
They are well aware of this issue, and thought there was a good chance it would clear by itself ... which it did 10 miles from home.
I estimated that if I had just carried on as planned, it would have cleared itself on The Isle of Skye with 50 mile range, and some 520 miles from home.
Who needs that kind of anxiety when they have the power to clear it or switch it off?
So while I agree they are working around ever moving goal posts, I feel they should also be working with their loyal customers. They do after all sell very expensive campervans aimed at distance travel with these same engines.

To deny they have heard of this is a joke, but it's how Germans do things..
BMW Motorrad were the best with their R1200 GS fuel pump controller - A component that would literally blow and lose all power at any time.
Forums were full of it, work arounds to get you home, and many carried a spare.
I walked into the parts department to buy a spare which cost me £92.
Complaining I shouldn't need to be rinsed on a small switch with a known fault, they both looked at me blankly until one piped up "We're not aware of any problem".

I would actually have more confidence in an ID Buzz because you always know where you stand, unlike the ridiculous Ad Blue light that can ruin your plans in an instance, play with you for a hundred miles or so, or simply run down until it won't start
Having had all 3 things happen, I'm getting a bit sick of it - VW need to sort it or switch it off!

Rant over for now!

 

[Ayjay]

When I checked the Adblue reading last week it told me that we had 5500 miles to go before refill - I know that's about right as it was only topped up 400 miles or so ago. Anyhow, on our way down to Devon this morning, the dreaded 650 miles warning popped up and 20 miles later it dropped to 600. What pees me off is that VW did a software update on the van last October which they said would sort the problem - sort it, my 4rse. We are planning on hitting the road down to Northern Spain and Portugal next month so I've now got to go through all the nause of booking it in again (assuming they can even give me a slot!) and make the 100 mile round trip to get it looked at when I haven't even got confidence that they can sort it out anyway. I'll have to keep an eye on it this week as we're due to go back home on Friday or Saturday and will start worrying every time we drive the thing. Assuming we do get back home without mishap, I might decide to make a call and get a VW Assist van out to me and see if he makes sense of out. Fecking VWs.

Well we were about 20 miles into the journey from Devon to Home yesterday when the adblue warning went from 650 miles to 600.
20 miles later it went to 550,
18 miles later to 500.
20 miles after that to 450 (at which point, even my optimistic side was thinking things weren't looking good.

At this point, we pulled over and I decided to give the VW Van Centre in Exeter a quick call as we would be passing close to them on the way home and they might even have a quick fix (more fool me, quick fix, my 4rse). After giving the service bloke the story (including that it had supposedly been fixed by their brothers in arms in Swindon), he advised that the only solution was to take it into a dealer to let them do their diagnostic work and, if necessary, contact VW for the go ahead to do a warranty repair. I asked him if, hypothetically, we wanted to book it in with them when it could be done to which he responded 'about 8 weeks for the initial visit'.

On that happy note, we continued on our journey and after about 10 miles, the MFD suddenly changed to 5500 miles. 10 miles later it dropped to 5000 but 30 miles after that went back up to 5500 miles and stayed there for the rest of the drive home.

I've now got to decide whether or not to follow it up with my not particularly local VW centre or just leave it - the 2 factors to consider are that we want to head for Europe at the end of this month for about 6 weeks and the All In Extended Warranty rums out on 3 August. I'm also thinking that if the issue isn't there when it actually goes to the dealer they will say that there's just nothing to see.

 

[PlanB]

I started using Cataclean last year, and have just ordered some Wynns Crystal Clean & Protect for both vans.

Amazon.co.uk

You just have to do what you can to reduce the risk .... you are on your own!

 

[Ayjay]

Well we were about 20 miles into the journey from Devon to Home yesterday when the adblue warning went from 650 miles to 600.
20 miles later it went to 550,
18 miles later to 500.
20 miles after that to 450 (at which point, even my optimistic side was thinking things weren't looking good.

At this point, we pulled over and I decided to give the VW Van Centre in Exeter a quick call as we would be passing close to them on the way home and they might even have a quick fix (more fool me, quick fix, my 4rse). After giving the service bloke the story (including that it had supposedly been fixed by their brothers in arms in Swindon), he advised that the only solution was to take it into a dealer to let them do their diagnostic work and, if necessary, contact VW for the go ahead to do a warranty repair. I asked him if, hypothetically, we wanted to book it in with them when it could be done to which he responded 'about 8 weeks for the initial visit'.

On that happy note, we continued on our journey and after about 10 miles, the MFD suddenly changed to 5500 miles. 10 miles later it dropped to 5000 but 30 miles after that went back up to 5500 miles and stayed there for the rest of the drive home.

I've now got to decide whether or not to follow it up with my not particularly local VW centre or just leave it - the 2 factors to consider are that we want to head for Europe at the end of this month for about 6 weeks and the All In Extended Warranty rums out on 3 August. I'm also thinking that if the issue isn't there when it actually goes to the dealer they will say that there's just nothing to see.

We're currently on a road trip down to South of France andpitched at a site just off the autoroute between Bordeaux to Toulouse. Earlier today, I had done 880 miles since adblue 'self corrected' itself as reported in the post above and we were about 60 miles into todays drive when the dreaded 650 mile adblue warning popped up and 20 miles later went down to 600 at the start it had read 4500 which I reckon would be in the right ballpark given the last time it was refilled.
I guess I've now got to play a game of chicken with the van to see if it can self correct itself again. The alternative is to call VW Assist or visit a VW dealer en route and see what they can suggest - if it's been answered before on here, I missed it but does anybody know whether it's simp[y a case of them plugging in and doing a reset?

 

[Stay Frosty]

Any idea how much "addy bleu" you've actually got in the tank as I'm thinking back to each of the two times our Adblu system has had a brain fart and that was a case of the shown reading in the dash MFD displaying thousands of miles left when in reality there was probably only a few litres left in the tank.
We're following you down into France this Thursday for, hopefully, a month and currently have 5,000 miles showing from the gallon and a half I bunged in 6 wks and 400 miles ago, the MFD showed 5,500 miles upon top up so at the moment all good but I'm sure that will all go out the window as soon as we're in the Schengen Thunderdome and fending off malicious dash warnings and lights... will have the box of matches ready though so that might be enough counter measures.

 

[Ayjay]

@Stayfrosty. No idea in terms of quantity but I do know how many miles I've done since the last adblue fill and the 4500 mile range that its was showing until recently seems to be in the ballpark although TBH, I reckon it should be closer to 4000. At 4500 miles it didn't even see fit to show minimum and maximum recommended fills as it does when the tank gets more depleted. Does anybody on here know whether it should??

 

[jimc91]

@Stayfrosty. No idea in terms of quantity but I do know how many miles I've done since the last adblue fill and the 4500 mile range that its was showing until recently seems to be in the ballpark although TBH, I reckon it should be closer to 4000. At 4500 miles it didn't even see fit to show minimum and maximum recommended fills as it does when the tank gets more depleted. Does anybody on here know whether it should??

Only shows max and min when it gets low, at 4000 miles you won’t get a max and min figure

 

[Ayjay]

@jimc91 cheers. I thought that was the case but couldn’t remember!