F15 X5 M50d - Ad Blue

[Dr C]

Hello all, my first post here...

I took delivery of my F15 X5 M50d in November, my first ever BMW, and have covered almost exactly 5000 miles. On Sunday past, I got a warning on the iDrive saying "Fault with Ad Blue system, contact dealership". So I took the car to the dealer who said that Ad Blue is a new thing for them and that they are "still learning about it(!)", anyway, they said it had almost ran out, so they topped it up and did a load of diagnostics and all seems fine now.

My question is, has anyone had any issues with the Ad Blue system? Running dry after only 5000 miles seems a bit ridiculous to me because from what I can gather it should last around 20,000 miles more or less? Also, I asked my dealer if it would invalidate my warranty if I used non-BMW approved Ad Blue in the car and got a very non-committal response...would they be able to tell?

Thanks
Dr C

[X5Sport]

Ad blue is only just coming in now for cars - the F15 is the first UK 'X' with it, although other F models have it too.  The US/Canada models got it on the E70/71.  I thought that it should last a lot longer too.....certainly more than you've had. 

Trucks have had it for a while now.  I thought Ad Blue was just a trade name for any of the approved NOX reducing agents.  BMWs will only be a rebadge of one of the other brands like Banner.

If it says 'Ad Blue' on the bottle it should be the right stuff.  It's use is to do with Euro V & VI emissions rules for new cars.

Does the engine refuse to start if you do run out?

Richard

[m13lky]

Dr C, first congratulations on the new car, straight to the top with your first bmw! I was reading the manual at the weekend for my F15 m sport and was interested to find out it has ad blue as I never knew this, I have now found you can check how many miles is left in your car ad blue on the I drive system, it tells you the specific requirements of the ad blue they insist on being used in the owners manual, I would hope this maybe covered in the 5 year service pack which I have, do you have this on your M? Or did they charge you for this?

Happy motoring!

[Sanj]

What is Ad Blue please?  :blink:

[m13lky]

It's a chemical that is injected into the exhaust system to reduce emissions, I think a lot of the bigger diesels have to have it from 2014 onwards, more euro nonsense!

[Horizon]

Trucks have been using it for a few years now. It can be found on certain forecourts now, on the trucks if you get a roadside check and its run out you can get done for not complying with emission controls.

[X5Sport]

[quote="Sanj"]
What is Ad Blue please?  :blink:
[/quote]

Urea......and you can guess where it can also be found. :'(

[shadrack]

trucks have had it since 06 on some models, its a total load of bollocks, just wait till all the system problems start, it can also freeze up, has a load of sensors and in a truck you need to fill up every 4 days or so, 50 litres of ad blue to around 1000 litres of diesel, so dont know how far that goes in a car, also if its access able they sell it in 90% of service stations on pumps in the truck side, it will be on everything soon.

oh and its basically piss, urea and water

[petert]

I have this on my Canadian 2010 E70 35d.  When the system gets low on the diesel exhaust fluid a warning comes up in the dash eg 'No start on 990 km'.  At this point there is space for 2.7 litres in the DEF tank That gives plenty of time to get more fluid added.  Note that the DEF can freeze below -5C and give misleading dash messages though I've never experienced this

In 80000 km I've only had this up once between service intervals.  It can be filled by vehicle owner - on my car the manual shows the fill port under the bonnet LHS looking from the front.  Manual specifies BMW diesel exhaust fluid with an alternative 'NOx reduction agent AUS32'.

Refills were included in my 4 year service pack but that's just ended so I guess I have to bear the cost now...

Peter T

[Dr C]

Thanks all...appreciate the responses. 

In answer to the various questions, there was no issue at all with starting the car, everything was normal except the warning on the iDrive. When I went into the iDrive to check the Ad Blue level it said the range I had was 3500 miles, and it stated 8.5 litres; I don't know if this was the volume in the car or the volume required to fill it up. Anyway, they put a master tech on it  who did all sorts of diagnostics and discovered that it had indeed used up pretty much all of the Ad Blue, despite what the iDrive said! They also noticed a software fault with the drive train, so they did a full software update which should hopefully fix the issue of a full tank of Ad Blue only lasting 5000 miles! I may be paranoid but I thought I detected a bit of BS coming from them as they told me up front they're not really up to speed on the whole Ad Blue thing.

ANYWAY, they did the work under warranty and never charged me which was good of them. I do have the five-year service pack which includes an Ad Blue top-up, but I've over 10,000 miles to go until it needs a service. I'm just going to keep it topped up myself in the meantime.

Cheers

[petert]

Glad you got it sorted.  I go about 16000 km between services (about 10000 miles) and rarely get the add DEF warning before the service is due so I think you're unlikely to have to top up the DEF.

Nice car by the way!!!

Peter T

[Dr C]

Thanks Peter.

Having checked the iDrive when the car came back, it is now showing a 10,000 mile range and "0 litres", therefore the volume stated is obviously the volume required to brim the Ad Blue given that it stated "8.5 litres" when I got the warning!

Of course, I could've saved all this hassle by simply reading the manual when I got the car...

[Don Coffey]

[quote="Dr C"]
Of course, I could've saved all this hassle by simply reading the manual when I got the car...
[/quote]

Do what???  Why would anyone read a manual before an issue arrives.  Just like instructions for flat pack furniture. You see the instructions there but wouldn't dream of using them!  ::)

That aside, interesting a topic.  The lads a mechanic for a local haulage firm who have been using Ad Blue for a number of years and has found the amount of Ad Blue used is far higher then the dealer told/expected. 

Don

[petert]

Interesting that you can see DEF info on the iDrive - I can't on mine!  (Other than when the 'no start in X km message' comes up). 
Just a bit more info: if I understand correctly there is both a main storage tank and a 'running tank' and the system normally fills the running tank from the storage tank.  Only the running tank is heated to prevent freezing: hence why prolonged cold weather can give erroneous fault messages regarding amount of DEF remaining in the system.

Peter T

[martin33100]

I have just done a course on it as our new straddle carriers at Southampton docks are running with an adblue system made by Bosch, when the engine shuts down the fluid gets sucked from the adblue injector back to the tank to stop any freezing issues.
After the turbo you have a nox sensor, then two CAT's the second with the adblue injector before it and then the other nox sensor at the rear. They are running around 7% adblue