Vauxhall combo ad blue issue

kevilson

Hi last  Friday 15th Nov i bought a Vauxhall combo 1-5 diesel with 49,000 miles but within a few days the dreaded countdown on the Ad blue warning sign came up . a warning came up "emission fault engine will not start after 450 miles " The engine orange sign came up as did the orange spanner and the flashing ad blue sign . 
   we filled the ad blue up but the warning sign is on as is the flashing ad blue plus the other two. Had it code read and it came up with something about the Dnox . Does this the nox sensor is faulty ?
Plus i did a stupid thing as i paid by my premier tsb debit card so what rights do i have if i want a refund from the garage ? 

Herzlos

Did you put enough ad blue into it? I know the first time the light came on I needed to add about 10l for the light to go off, so now I go to a petrol station with an ad blue pump and just fill it. I don't remember anything about an engine light though.

Given you haven't even had it a week yet I'd try and stick another bottle of ad blue in and then take it to the supplying dealer to look at it.

Goudy

I think this is the same SCR issue that Citroen and Peugeot diesels suffer from, it's the same engine used in the Combo.

The Adblue pump/tank probably needs replacing as the pump fails and it's part of the tank.
It's not cheap to replace either.

I've read the original design didn't allow for adequate venting, so the pump works harder and harder as a vacuum is formed as more and more Adblue gets used. Eventually the pump gives up.

Some garages want to replace the lot, tank/pump, injector and SCR catalyst, which is really expensive.

If you Google Citroen or Peugeot SCR emission fault, you'll get loads of post on the French car forums.

LightFlare

Herzlos said:

Did you put enough ad blue into it? I know the first time the light came on I needed to add about 10l for the light to go off, so now I go to a petrol station with an ad blue pump and just fill it. I don't remember anything about an engine light though.

Given you haven't even had it a week yet I'd try and stick another bottle of ad blue in and then take it to the supplying dealer to look at it.

Every days a school day - never knew this was a thing.

recently my car thru up an ad blu error separate from the mileage warning one. Filled up and error was still sporadic.
After a long (ish) drive of approx 80miles and a restart it all cleared

So as above - check its full and I would advise going for a nice long drive at the weekend - see if that clears it all

Herzlos

LightFlare said:

Herzlos said:

Did you put enough ad blue into it? I know the first time the light came on I needed to add about 10l for the light to go off, so now I go to a petrol station with an ad blue pump and just fill it. I don't remember anything about an engine light though.

Given you haven't even had it a week yet I'd try and stick another bottle of ad blue in and then take it to the supplying dealer to look at it.

Every days a school day - never knew this was a thing.

I only know because I was talking to a taxi driver that mentioned it since I was complaining about how expensive the 5l containers were and had no idea how much I needed.

You can search for them here: 

https://stationfinder.co.uk/ but ironically it doesn't have the one I use on it.

I think the rule of thumb is that stations that cater to HGVs will have them.

CliveOfIndia

Aldi and Lidl have AdBlue for sale every so often.  I don't have a need for it so I've no idea how the price compares, but it might be worth keeping an eye out and stocking up when they have it, if it's a good price ?

fishnetlady

the ad blue system is a nightmare especially on Peugeot cars. mine failed recently and after three visits to a local garage the only thing he could do was disabled the system. Peugeot wont reimburse me for the cost as my car is outside the age and mileage requirements. the added complication is that although i bought the car in the UK it is registered in France. The excuse is that they cant 't reimburse French Peugeot garages! not can they accept reports from independent garages. its ridiculous. I'm seriously considering taking them tot he small claims court just to see if what they do! 

paul_c123

Firstly, when you say you bought it - was it you personally as a private sale or a company that bought it? Its a commercial vehicle, not a car, obvs, different laws apply for a business-business trade.

You'd need to inform the garage/dealer (you bought it from) first that you want to take it to a different garage. They might have agreed reimbursment and might have said to bring it to them instead, or offered a full refund on the van.

Still worth a try though.

DjangoUnchained

Mine had this (citreon berlingo) it needed a new nox sensor, total about £500 inc fitting. I was expecting worse tbh.

Catman111

No problem, if you bought from a garage the vehicle must be ‘ fit for purpose’ which yours obviously is not, take it back for repair ( this problem more than likely will be expensive to repair )

Herzlos

I had adblue issues a while back on a Vivaro (same system) that throwing an error: P20E8 which is "adblue pump low pressure".

What happens if the tank gets too low is that the adblue can crystalize a bit and block the intake to the pump. Stick a couple of bottles of adblue decrystalizer in it and run it for a few miles and that should hopefully clear the blockage, add more adblue and you should be fine. It won't work in all cases but it's about £7 a bottle in a motor factors so much cheaper than any diagnostic or part replacement.

I now make sure the adblue is topped up instead of waiting for the 1000 mile warning.