Survey of Adblue issues suffered by T6 Forum Members

[Ayjay]

Its be about 2400 miles since I last saw any adblue related issues on the van so just as I thought they had finally gone away, they came back to nip me again. When we set out on our current euro road trip, I looked at the MFD which gave an adblue range of 3500 miles and a recommended top up of 1.25 - 2.00 Gallons. That changed at some point over the next 500 miles to 3000 with the same top up recommendation.
All was well until about 700 miles into the journey when an amber spanner appeared which Carista indicated was something to do with a NOx Sensor (can't remember the exact fault!code) - I reset it with Carista, all was well and a 10009 miles later it's not reappeared on the MFD and Carista isn't seeing it either.
At 1469 miles, the now infamous '650 miles to no restart' orange warning appeared and the MFD showed exactly the same recommended top up (ie. 1.25 - 2.00 Gallons)
At 1496 miles the '650 miles' disappeared and a check showed that the predicted adblue range was 2500 miles again with the recommended top up still at 1.25 to 2.00 gallons.
The sh1t system installed by VW is bad enough but the least I would have expected is for that sh1t system to be able to do it's sums properly.
We will now just have to see what happens but on the plus side, at least we're on a slow return leg back to Calais, albeit more than 650 miles away if things go pear shaped again.

 

[jimc91]

Its be about 2400 miles since I last saw any adblue related issues on the van so just as I thought they had finally gone away, they came back to nip me again. When we set out on our current euro road trip, I looked at the MFD which gave an adblue range of 3500 miles and a recommended top up of 1.25 - 2.00 Gallons. That changed at some point over the next 500 miles to 3000 with the same top up recommendation.
All was well until about 700 miles into the journey when an amber spanner appeared which Carista indicated was something to do with a NOx Sensor (can't remember the exact fault!code) - I reset it with Carista, all was well and a 10009 miles later it's not reappeared on the MFD and Carista isn't seeing it either.
At 1469 miles, the now infamous '650 miles to no restart' orange warning appeared and the MFD showed exactly the same recommended top up (ie. 1.25 - 2.00 Gallons)
At 1496 miles the '650 miles' disappeared and a check showed that the predicted adblue range was 2500 miles again with the recommended top up still at 1.25 to 2.00 gallons.
The sh1t system installed by VW is bad enough but the least I would have expected is for that sh1t system to be able to do it's sums properly.
We will now just have to see what happens but on the plus side, at least we're on a slow return leg back to Calais, albeit more than 650 miles away if things go pear shaped again.

Well known fault which always appears on French holidays when you’re more than 650 miles from a ferry- all will be well when you get back to Blighty, enjoy the rest of the trip

 

[Ayjay]

@jimc91 - Well known fault indeed but I suspect you're giving VW far too much credit if you really do believe that they could successfully integrate a GPS sensor into the adblue system that accurately knows if we cross the channel when they can't even crack a reasonably accurate level sensor.

 

[Sasquatch]

@jimc91 - Well known fault indeed but I suspect you're giving VW far too much credit if you really do believe that they could successfully integrate a GPS sensor into the adblue system that accurately knows if we cross the channel when they can't even crack a reasonably accurate level sensor.

The diesel cheat device team could do it im sure, although they may still be serving at Herr Chancellor's pleasure.

 

[ThunderboltFMF]

There must be a way of resetting this?

 

[Ayjay]

There must be a way of resetting this?

Apparently only to squeeze a further 50 miles out (for a T6 anyway) but only if you've got to have the kit to do it - I've only got Carista and I don't think that can. The additional 50 miles would hopefully get you to a VW dealer who will probably make you wait 2 months and charge you over £1K to fix it until it comes back again because they really haven't got a clue. Bottom line is that when it's not working properly, the adblue system is a complete and utter sack of sh1t and VW should hang there head in shame (except they haven't got any).

 

[ThunderboltFMF]

Apparently only to squeeze a further 50 miles out (for a T6 anyway) but only if you've got to have the kit to do it - I've only got Carista and I don't think that can. The additional 50 miles would hopefully get you to a VW dealer who will probably make you wait 2 months and charge you over £1K to fix it until it comes back again because they really haven't got a clue. Bottom line is that when it's not working properly, the adblue system is a complete and utter sack of sh1t and VW should hang there head in shame (except they haven't got any).

If VW can reset it, then there must be a way to do it.

 

[Sasquatch]

If VW can reset it, then there must be a way to do it.

That depends on whether the dealer can do it independently, or whether they have to plug in and let Germany diredtly provide a code to unlock whatever, and thus prevent people dicking with it and getting them into trouble with EU regulators.

It's undoubtedly possible, but who holds the metaphorical keys to the strong room?

 

[SV T6 Kombi]

That depends on whether the dealer can do it independently, or whether they have to plug in and let Germany diredtly provide a code to unlock whatever, and thus prevent people dicking with it and getting them into trouble with EU regulators.

It's undoubtedly possible, but who holds the metaphorical keys to the strong room?

Hi All, I use a Xtool A30m with any scan application & this allows me to reset the adblue system, also Xtool A30m comes with lifetime free updates. Take a look as not that expensive & you can do lots on a majority of vehicles.

 

[justonemore]

No issues for around 80k miles then it wouldn't reset after refill and the countdown began. 2 garages said similar things. Along the lines of it could be x or y or z or any combination of the 3 or a lot of other things. Basically no one had a clue . They both advised to get it mapped out. So I paid someone with a better computer than the first two garages £250 to tell the van that it didnt need adblue anymore and the silly counter disappeared and the van stopped threatening to go on strike. Is it the answer long term ? I dont know , What i do know is that i can use it again

 

[FWhite]

That depends on whether the dealer can do it independently, or whether they have to plug in and let Germany diredtly provide a code to unlock whatever, and thus prevent people dicking with it and getting them into trouble with EU regulators.

It's undoubtedly possible, but who holds the metaphorical keys to the strong room?

Just for everyone's info:

On a "T6.2" (T6.1 wit DNAx engine) like yours,
I just tried to reset the Adblue level to the (working) sensor level with OBDEleven Pro.

It does NOT work, the function is not available (bonnet was open too).

That not because I have a running problem (yet), but Adblue mileage on the dashboard is stuck at 29000-31000 Km whatever quantity of adblue I have inside. There is no inication of quantity to add on the dashboard menu.
So I just trow in about 5 liters/one gallon every 6 months or so (that may fill it to the brim, but does NOT make any diffence)
For my experiece adding 4 liters is about 25 mm more on the level sensor indication (OBDeleven live data).
This is consistent with the full tank measuring about 140 mm. If anyone has better references or measurements (I always made mine in a hurry) , he is welcome to post them
BTW I have the big tank (22 liters I think), that should be standard on the T6.2.
As I have said already, I think the Bosch ECU works completely differently from the previous ones, early T6.1 included.

 

[Ayjay]

From your name, I'm guessing you've got a T6. I've never heard of Xtool but will do a bit of research - what are the limits on a reset please? Does it just give a limited amount of extra miles (ie. like the VW 50) or a much larger (maybe user specified) reset? If it's the latter, I can't help wondering what the system does if it's reset and there really is no adblue in the tank.
Whatever, it sounds useful if only for a temporary remedy to get you to a garage.

 

[Sasquatch]

As I have said already, I think the Bosch ECU works completely differently from the previous ones, early T6.1 included.

I wonder if that's why (age and mileage notwithstanding at this point) the Bosch equipped 6.1's seem to suffer less in the way of SCR problems?

 

[mmi]

I just tried to reset the Adblue level to the (working) sensor level with OBDEleven Pro.

It does NOT work, the function is not available (bonnet was open too).

I'm afraid the function (in the settings list) is just a remnant of early generation AdBlue system (before 2015) hence it isn't recognised anymore by T6 - T6.1 engines.

Post in thread 'AdBlue Refill Query'

19 Jul 2021

Fill whatever volume you like.
This fake stories about overfilling Adblue must stop eventually.

EDIT:
Who told you that you can overfill?

But isn't it actually a cunning way to lay the blame on the customer...

Actually, on early AdBlue systems (e.g Passat, Sharan up to approx. MY14) you indeed could reproduce the fault by "overfilling". However, the system was not as sophisticated as ours. More about the ancient system on pages 26 & 34-36 in VAG SSP 424 – Exhaust Gas Aftertreatment System Selective Catalytic Reduction – PDF Download (published in 2009).

• mmi

• 

the level sensor indication (OBDeleven live data).

Also on the Forum there is not a single mention where the actual sensor would have reported erroneous value - as seen by the ECU itself.

 

[Ayjay]

Its be about 2400 miles since I last saw any adblue related issues on the van so just as I thought they had finally gone away, they came back to nip me again. When we set out on our current euro road trip, I looked at the MFD which gave an adblue range of 3500 miles and a recommended top up of 1.25 - 2.00 Gallons. That changed at some point over the next 500 miles to 3000 with the same top up recommendation.
All was well until about 700 miles into the journey when an amber spanner appeared which Carista indicated was something to do with a NOx Sensor (can't remember the exact fault!code) - I reset it with Carista, all was well and a 10009 miles later it's not reappeared on the MFD and Carista isn't seeing it either.
At 1469 miles, the now infamous '650 miles to no restart' orange warning appeared and the MFD showed exactly the same recommended top up (ie. 1.25 - 2.00 Gallons)
At 1496 miles the '650 miles' disappeared and a check showed that the predicted adblue range was 2500 miles again with the recommended top up still at 1.25 to 2.00 gallons.
The sh1t system installed by VW is bad enough but the least I would have expected is for that sh1t system to be able to do it's sums properly.
We will now just have to see what happens but on the plus side, at least we're on a slow return leg back to Calais, albeit more than 650 miles away if things go pear shaped again.

Further to the above and just to complete this particular chapter in my ongoing Adblue saga:

At 2026 miles, the amber light returned and I cancelled it via Carista.
At 2119 miles, the adblue range warning flashed up saying that I only had 650 miles left - just before that, I had checked and it showed a range of 1700.
At 2139 miles, it went down to 600.
At 2191 miles it went down to 550.
At 2241 miles it went down to 500.
At 2247 miles it went UP to 1500
At 2302 miles it went down to 1400 (which I reckon is probably quite close to what it should be given the actual distance from my last popup).

Although I shied away from it until now, taking into account the total and utter inability demonstrated by VW to sort it out properly without me potentially giving grands in exchange, I'm now giving some serious thought to an adblue delete.

In summary, fecking VW - what a bunch of cowboys.

Over and out until the next time.

 

[Macp]

Further to the above and just to complete this particular chapter in my ongoing Adblue saga:

At 2026 miles, the amber light returned and I cancelled it via Carista.
At 2119 miles, the adblue range warning flashed up saying that I only had 650 miles left - just before that, I had checked and it showed a range of 1700.
At 2139 miles, it went down to 600.
At 2191 miles it went down to 550.
At 2241 miles it went down to 500.
At 2247 miles it went UP to 1500
At 2302 miles it went down to 1400 (which I reckon is probably quite close to what it should be given the actual distance from my last popup).

Although I shied away from it until now, taking into account the total and utter inability demonstrated by VW to sort it out properly without me potentially giving grands in exchange, I'm now giving some serious thought to an adblue delete.

In summary, fecking VW - what a bunch of cowboys.

Over and out until the next time.

Although it generally gets frowned upon here, I totally get it and empathise to those who do it for good reason. A friend of mine did it with his work van, got just got so fedup with the bills and loss of income.

 

[Ayjay]

Further to the above and just to complete this particular chapter in my ongoing Adblue saga:

At 2026 miles, the amber light returned and I cancelled it via Carista.
At 2119 miles, the adblue range warning flashed up saying that I only had 650 miles left - just before that, I had checked and it showed a range of 1700.
At 2139 miles, it went down to 600.
At 2191 miles it went down to 550.
At 2241 miles it went down to 500.
At 2247 miles it went UP to 1500
At 2302 miles it went down to 1400 (which I reckon is probably quite close to what it should be given the actual distance from my last popup).

Although I shied away from it until now, taking into account the total and utter inability demonstrated by VW to sort it out properly without me potentially giving grands in exchange, I'm now giving some serious thought to an adblue delete.

In summary, fecking VW - what a bunch of cowboys.

Over and out until the next time.

There's more top be added to the story now. For reasons that I won't go into, I had to make a dash from home in Gloucestershire down to North Cornwall last week, returning via Weymouth (Note: the van had only been driven about 80 miles since the above was posted). Shortly after starting off for Cornwall, the display changed to 1300 miles adblue range which, again, I thought was at least close to correct.

At 107 miles the range changed 1200 (about right!).
At 120 miles down to 650.
At 140 miles down to 600.
At 190 miles down to 550.
At 240 miles down to 500.
At 290 miles down to 450.
At 293 miles UP to 1100.
At 305 miles down to to 1000.
At 405 miles down to 900 (which is where it sets as I type).

When we got home, even my wife had had enough and was advocating an ablue delete so I think I'm going to make a couple of calls tomorrow to see the lie of the land. That said, the van is being serviced and MOTd on Wednesday at an independent with a very good rep in the local VW community and I might also wait to see what they have to say. As an aside, it's an 18 plate and it's the first time that it will ever have been anywhere but a 'proper' VW Van Service Centre as I've always had a VW warranty of some sort (ie. original + All In extended).

 

[FWhite]

There's more top be added to the story now. For reasons that I won't go into, I had to make a dash from home in Gloucestershire down to North Cornwall last week, returning via Weymouth (Note: the van had only been driven about 80 miles since the above was posted). Shortly after starting off for Cornwall, the display changed to 1300 miles adblue range which, again, I thought was at least close to correct.

At 107 miles the range changed 1200 (about right!).
At 120 miles down to 650.
At 140 miles down to 600.
At 190 miles down to 550.
At 240 miles down to 500.
At 290 miles down to 450.
At 293 miles UP to 1100.
At 305 miles down to to 1000.
At 405 miles down to 900 (which is where it sets as I type).

When we got home, even my wife had had enough and was advocating an ablue delete so I think I'm going to make a couple of calls tomorrow to see the lie of the land. That said, the van is being serviced and MOTd on Wednesday at an independent with a very good rep in the local VW community and I might also wait to see what they have to say. As an aside, it's an 18 plate and it's the first time that it will ever have been anywhere but a 'proper' VW Van Service Centre as I've always had a VW warranty of some sort (ie. original + All In extended).

Are you sure you haven't just too less juice in the jar?
I mean, I have a 22 liter (5 gallons of any kind plus change ) jar and reading is forever stuck between 29000 to 32000 km ( 18000 to 20000 miles).
But, aside with the measurement not working, the consumd Adblue is consistent with that, and I just fill it to the brim ( Yes I can) a couple of times a year, will little effort.

So, even if you have the smaller jar, you should have juice for, well, 15000 km (9000 to 10000 miles) IF FULL.
From your numbers it looks to me you are going around with an almost empty (10% or less ) jar and you are subject to measurement errors due to environmental conditions.

So,
Why you don't go to the gas station and just fill it? What do I miss?

Sorry if didn't understand your issue properly, Sunday afternoons i am not particularly smart.

 

[Ayjay]

@FWhite. Don't read the above in isolation - the spurious range readings have been an ongoing issue whether the adblue tank is freshly filled, half filled or anything else. It's a 2018 T6 and would appear has a smaller adblue tank than yours at 13 L (ie. just under 3 gallons) which usually gives a range of 6 - 6.5K miles - at the moment, the MFD recommends filling with a min of 2 and a max of 2.75 gallons and I have no doubt that if I were to fill it up tomorrow (or, at least, adopting my usual routine of topping up to 2L less than max so as to not overfill), it would register as near full and 6500 miles range but I just know from experience that at some point, incorrect readings will start popping up[ again - See my post #12 on page 1).

 

[mmi]

15 October 24 @ 28918 Miles

Software update carried out by VW Van Centre. They advised that they ‘Investigated EML and Adblue lights’ and found ‘TPI Update for codes stored on ECU’ relating to fuel and Adblue injector performance. Carried out update and they advised all tested as OK.

Could you please share again Carista Detailed ECU info.
Previous, before the update was a few years back in Adblue and Exhaust warning light poll- what is happening to who, with what vans, driving how, is the problem getting fixed, how long is this taking..