In short Adblue is probably less hazardous than Screenwash, the 20 ltr containers we use have no labels at all and with the liquid being colourless and having little odour it could just be a container of pure water to anyone that didn’t know. Apparantly it can damage plastics over a period if not washed off, any spills should be washed away anyway as it crystalises when dry and is probably more of a nuisance then.
Just one for Phil, in the absence of knowing any different we have to take the manufacturers word that the Urea content changes damaging NOx particles into harmless Nitrogen and water therefore allowing lower emission levels to be achieved. Water on its own won’t do this, so they say, as it needs the conversion of Urea to Ammonia to create the reaction. Personally I think the whole issue of exhaust emissions has gone OTT and I’ve never been a believer in the ‘Global Warming’ the world is dying garbage and cleaning up exhaust fumes will solve the worlds problems. Great that we have reduced exhaust emissions to lower levels but I think it should be left at that now, the Automobile industry in Europe at least, has done its bit.
And it’s not even BLUE! I think it would have been better to dye it a light shade of green and call it ‘AddGreen’, would please the pube sandal knitting, tree hugging hippies.
If you inject ad-blu into a cat, is that not a case for the animal welfare people 
It is gross negligence to not maintain the vehicle as the makers specified, ad-blu is easily available so theres no excuse to run out. We have our own tank in the yard next to the fuel pump, but when we first went over to the ad-blu system, we had a carbuoy, and a hosepipe dumped in the top, and ran via a small electric pump, but the top was always off, so it let in rain/snow/ice, and then we started to get problems with the truck system where the ad-blu was crystalising, on a visit to the DAF dealer, they told us the unit that converts the particles, was £5000, so when i told the firm what a bill they were going to get on 60 trucks, had a proper system delivered a few days later, they were also very worried when told the warranty would be void…problem solved.
Everything you need to know about AdBlue is here
Nitrous oxides in the exhaust gasses are held on to by the matrix in the SCR cat (silencer of the exhaust system) by the platinum/iridium coating.The engine ECU computes how much diesel has been burnt by the truck and after a certain amount of fuel has been used a metered amount of add blue is injected into the exhaust just after the turbo charger.
Once inside the SCR cat (selective reduction catalyser) the Nitrogen in the Nitrous oxides can be “cracked” from the oxygen that it has joined to due to the high temperature inside the combustion chamber.Because nitrogen is a 2 atom molecule it would immediately try to rejoin to another atom of oxygen and reform NOx but the add blue is very high in “free” nitrogen so the nitrogen grabs another nitrogen atom and is pushed out of the exhaust as atmospheric nitrogen N2 and the oxygen latches to a couple of carbon atoms or hydrogen atoms and is realeased as water or CO2.
Nitrous oxides when mixed with water vapour cause acid rain (dilute nitric acid) .And no ■■■■■■ in the tank wont work.Should be no power loss if you run out of add blue only if add blue system detects a major fault or a short to earth.
NOx levels are sensed on gas entry and exit from the cat.Voltage difference is monitored between these to sensors to give ecu its operating perameters.
Very old technology they have been using the same system in power station chimneys for over thirty years only difference is that they use ammonia NH3 as opposed to add blue because nobody wants 20 gallon of fuming ammonia stuck on the side of a truck.EGR works in a similar manner by reducing combustion chamber temperatures to stop the formation of NOx gasses.Or as the American idea spray water into induction manifold air stream again reducing cylinder temperatures.
They’re only just getting around to installing it in the coal burning power station here. Mind you, it’s in Wales, and they are probably happy for the acid ran and smog to blow over to the English in Bristol!
how do you check the adblue level on a scania truck
p.clarke8:
how do you check the adblue level on a scania truck
it’s on the menu on the digital display.
Guys as far as im aware it only affects the power and performance off your unit.once you put adblu back in normal performance n power is resummed.
Mercs can run without, no power loss at all
MMTM there is no power loss when you first run out of Adblue, but the ECU will cut back the power if you continue to run without. Same applies if “exhaust system fault” light comes on.
Wheel Nut:
Adblue is injected before the CAT - Fact
Adblue reduces the NOx emissions - Fact
Adblue is 67.5% Water - Fact
Adblue is 32.5% Urea - FactLack of Adblue in the system will alter the classification of taxable emissions - Fact
Engines are classified by Euro Zone 0 to 6 at present. The higher the NOx the lower the zone. - Fact
Adblue works by releasing ammonia into the cat, the cat works cleaning emissions before getting rid of the ammonia.
It is injected into the cat, Adblue also keeps the injector cool.
g51ikros.renault-trucks.com/G51I … lue_en.pdf
I do not believe that Adblue is Corrosive. (Certainly not classified as such)
It is also my belief that a vehicle without Adblue will eventually damage the pump & injector through running dry
There’s alot off facts there wheelnut. Ad-blu crystalizes when it hits the open air,wouldn’t say it is a corrosive otherwise the ibc’s that we get it in would have the adr warning traiangle for class8 on them.
One thing I do know it stinks.
AD Blue will ruin your alloy wheels ,also it does have corrosive properties hence all manfacturers fit plastic tanks …Though you can get aftermarket metal tanks .How corrosive it is I don’t know
I can only talk about what DAF generally do …You technically will never run out of ad-blue,due to the fact that when you technically do and the lights on and the needle is at empty ,and you derate,there is still a couple of litres in the tank ,so there is no chance of damaging the pump ,as when the ecu notices that it is out of ad blue the pump will be switched off,but there will still be fluid in it
The injector is just a metering system ,there is no electrics etc on it ,it’s a fancy tube .there is no need to keep it cool as a vehicle will only inject ad blue when the set parameters are met ,when not injecting there is no ad blue in the injection side of the system…The LF actually just blows air through the pipe when not injecting ,to make sure there is no ad blue in the system to crystalise and block it ,Hence when you switch of an LF you will hear being blown through for 30 secs ,and if it pet reg you get a warning on the dash saying not to hit the masterswitch
norb:
AD Blue will ruin your alloy wheels ,also it does have corrosive properties hence all manfacturers fit plastic tanks …Though you can get aftermarket metal tanks .How corrosive it is I don’t knowI can only talk about what DAF generally do …You technically will never run out of ad-blue,due to the fact that when you technically do and the lights on and the needle is at empty ,and you derate,there is still a couple of litres in the tank ,so there is no chance of damaging the pump ,as when the ecu notices that it is out of ad blue the pump will be switched off,but there will still be fluid in it
The injector is just a metering system ,there is no electrics etc on it ,it’s a fancy tube .there is no need to keep it cool as a vehicle will only inject ad blue when the set parameters are met ,when not injecting there is no ad blue in the injection side of the system…The LF actually just blows air through the pipe when not injecting ,to make sure there is no ad blue in the system to crystalise and block it ,Hence when you switch of an LF you will hear being blown through for 30 secs ,and if it pet reg you get a warning on the dash saying not to hit the masterswitch
Hello Norb
Renault use a different system - The non injectable volume is pumped round to keep the injector cool so like yours it never really runs dry. Our injector does have electrics to it though. At Euro 6 I believe this may change though to an air system similar to yours.
Cheers
Steve.
Ah neversweat that’s why I like to point out it’s only DAF I can talk about 
Ive donr the Euro 6 daf course and for the life of me I can’t remember how the injector works.As like Renault no doubt there is a lot of new stuff.Our exhaust consists of a DOC ,DPF ,SCR & AMOX …Life isn’t going to get any easier for any of us…
norb:
Ah neversweat that’s why I like to point out it’s only DAF I can talk about
We’ve got at Euro 6. DOC. DPF. SCR. & ASC ( Amonia Slip Cataylst) Great times ahead 
NOT 
I expect AMOX is something similar.
Steve
SAC /AMOX is just probably manufacturers playing about with names ,in theory they all should be operating roughly the same way…And to think we thought Euro 5 was a nightmare at the start …From what I can gather there will be no more reductions in NOX ,but Particulates will be Brussels next target
norb:
SAC /AMOX is just probably manufacturers playing about with names ,in theory they all should be operating roughly the same way…And to think we thought Euro 5 was a nightmare at the start
We’ve a double whammy - Euro 6 and a completely New Range as well.
Steve
Ouch … … Though we use your cab on the LF…Otherwise it the next generation of EBS ,with a new fancy air drier,so our changes aren’t as Drastic as your’s.But there is enough to keep us guessing …Steve do you use PICO SCOPES at Renault
norb:
Ouch …
Not as an everyday diagnostic tool we don’t Norb - We have to hook a laptop into our diagnostic tool when we need too - Bit long winded 
Steve