Adblue refill problems (airlock)

[Damo77]

Evening ladies and gents,

I have been trying to refill the adblue system over the last month or so in my Passat B8 190 GT.

The reminder on the dashboard said that there was 6000 miles remaining in the system a couple of weeks back. I've tried to top up the system using both the 1.89 litre refill bottles and the 10 litre bottle but cannot get the system to fill beyond 9000 miles remaining.

I initially started with the 10 litre refill bottle, genuine VW adblue and genuine connector hose with air feed but only managed to add about 2 thirds of the container into the tank but the car would not accept any more so I gave up assuming there must be some sort of trick I am missing.

I have been using the car daily and decided over the weekend to buy 3 bottles of the 1.89 litre quick refills but same again I was only able to add two bottles before the car refused anymore.

It almost seems that there is something blocking the system and stopping me adding anymore DEF (adblue).

Has as anyone else come across this issue and can offer any advice as to where I am going wrong??

I am going to have the car serviced next month by VW (20,000 mile service) and will be enquiring about this as well but I am sure I'll get the usual advice that this should only be refilled by an authorised dealer at a cost of £££.££.

Hope some one can help with this as I'd like to be able to do this myself.

Many thanks in advance

Damo

[Guest 2]

Mine has never said more than 9000 miles on the counter.

[Damo77]

Good evening Chris, thanks for your reply.

What is confusing me is that when I bought the car, it only had 4k miles on the clock but the adblue reminder i' m almost certain told me that there was 24000 miles of adblue in the tank. Which would kind of match the 16k miles I've put on the car without filling the adblue.
I am therefore wondering if the adblue needs to be pressure filled or something to that effect.
If I'm not mistaken the adblue tank is believed to be somewhere in the 13 litre region. I think I've managed to get about 6 litres in, roughly but surprised at the readings on the dash. I guess proof will be in the pudding when i get the car serviced. Hopefully they will list how much adblue was required to brim the tank. Then I can try work out how much was still required to top the tank up.

I do wonder though if the system may need some form of pressure filling to get the tank topped right up.

Damo

[gamichea]

Your experience does not chime with mine. When delivered new with few miles recorded the Adblue indicator said 8.5k miles remaining. Adblue was topped up by my dealer for the cost of the Adblue and no more at 7.3 k with 1 to 1.5k miles remaining. 10 litres were added and the indicator returned to 8.5k which is not out of line with a tank capacity of 13 litres. Adblue consumption is dependent to some degree on driving style and the conditions in which the car is used and those are unknown to you for the first 4k of the car's life. I suspect when you got the car it said 2400 miles remaining which is believable. I do not understand how you can have covered 16k miles without a top up, let alone done so and still have 6k to go unless something is malfunctioning. Has the car been in a dealership during your tenure? If so its likely the Adblue would have been topped up if it was getting towards low. From about 1.5k miles to go increasingly urgent reminders pop up on the info display when the ignition is switched on.