I understand ad blue has a ‘use by’ date on the containers. But what about ad blue that’s been in the car for a while? I ask because I don’t do many miles, although they are long trips, as a result I hardly use any ad blue. As the tank is quite large, the stuff has been in there for quite some time. I last topped it up a good couple of years ago.
Is there anything I should do about it?
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What a good question! I don't know the definitive answer but I do know ad blue is something like 60% distilled water so I guess it could evaporate from the tank?
If your really worried you could always drain the tank and refill with fresh, absolutely no idea if that's easy or possible.....
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I would think that 12-18 months is a reasonable shelf or storage life for adblue . If tank hasn’t been emptied for a couple of years, then it may be an idea to get it flushed before excess sulphation takes place . Unfortunately there is no easy way to drain an adblue tank . It needs to be removed from the ca r. With such low mileage covered , perhaps you’d be better off with a petrol car .
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Diesel was the only option on the base model van, unfortunately. Could have moved up to a posher model with the pure tech, but in hindsight I may have dodged a bullet there.
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Nothing wrong with a diesel Berlingo, my work van is currently on 98k and despite having only 75bhp still go's well.
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PSA have drain plugs on their ad blue tanks.... they must have forseen that they would need to be changed on a frequent basis!
You can't have sulphation of ad blue - there's no sulphur in it!
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Crystallise rather than sulfation . Look at the mess it makes when it gets spilled in the boot .
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Crystallise rather than sulfation . Look at the mess it makes when it gets spilled in the boot
IIRC the main ingredient in Adblue is urea. While that doesn't sound nice, it is a fairly simple and harmless organic compound which (obvs) can be flushed away with water.
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Crystallise rather than sulfation . Look at the mess it makes when it gets spilled in the boot
IIRC the main ingredient in Adblue is urea. While that doesn't sound nice, it is a fairly simple and harmless organic compound which (obvs) can be flushed away with water.
Your quite right Andrew urea is a ingredient of ad blue but it's mainly distilled water, it does however irritate the skin, I managed to get some down my leg, brought me out in a rash.
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Just an update. I bought some snake oil that claims to prevent crystals and dumped it in the tank. I tried to syphon out any remaining adblue, but without success. I put in 10 litres of fresh adblue, and called it job done. Its a bit of a pain not knowing the level in the tank, then I could have bought the right amount to fill it up properly.
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I bought some snake oil that claims to prevent crystals and dumped it in the tank. I tried to syphon out any remaining adblue, but without success. I put in 10 litres of fresh adblue, and called it job done. Its a bit of a pain not knowing the level in the tank, then I could have bought the right amount to fill it up properly.
As said above, Adblue is a strong solution of urea in water. The urea is the important ingredient but as it is a solid it has to be in solution to be metered into the fuel system. Over time, in a tank which can easily get quite warm, the water will tend to evaporate leaving urea crystals. I guess the delivery system could get blocked if precautions are not taken ? But as its is an aqueous solution the system can easily be flushed with water with no worries about the urea, a natural organic compound.
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Sometimes if clumsy blighters spill adblu over the bulk pump handle, it crystalises enough to stop the pump handle operating, a kettle of hot water over it shifts it all in no time.
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