Adblue question

[Surfer]

According to various sources sealed container of Adblue has a shelf life of about one year and an opened container a life span of about 6 months.  Adblue is consumed on average 1litre per 600 miles.  When the Jeep goes in for its annual service they generally top up the Adblue tank, but the old Adblue is now over a year old and as it has been "opened" well past its expiry date of 6 months.  Our jeep has a 30L tank but probably has only used about half of that in a year.

 

Question is could this cause damage to the system using the old Adlue?

[Surfer]

I am very surprised that no one has been able to answer my question regarding Adblue and whether the system should be drained at every service and replenished with fresh Adblue? 

[Caroline12]

I personally think it will absolutely fine, it’s not mixed with any thing in the tank, it is being used. Between services I would top it up with what you have. 
the only affect I know of Adblue is if some dries out it crystallises. In a moving vehicle the tank it’s splashing about and will be fine. You could pour what you have into the tank through a fine sieve to stop any hard bits entering the engine pipe work system.

 

I tend to think of stuff like this as petrol and diesel fuel cans and lawn mowers/strimmers etc. the advice is you should change your fuel every  6 months to a year, because it goes stale it’s not a piece of bread. Petrol/diesel will still burn just as well after 1 week as 6 months/1 year old. All that happens is the lightest elements of the petrol/diesel could have evaporated off, but most of the fuel will still be absolutely fine to burn. I don’t know anyone who has enough money to thrown 1 year fuel away and where do you throw it same with Adblue 

 

I can see no reason why you can’t just add it to your Adblue tank, but maybe sieve/filter it first for crystallisation particles, because they won’t help the pipeline system.

 

as for lack of responses, quite a few are on a Jeep trek event, so they are busy off-roading

 

it doesn’t have to be drained, just topped up. 

 

[UKTJ]

My simple view is that if it were a problem we would have heard about it by now.  But then my Jeep is petrol so not something I have looked into much.

[BLUE STAR]

Yeah and my diesel doesn't have to have this nasty stuff   or a particulate filter either.

So many unnecessary  complications just to run your engine  

You would think the Govt is making it so difficult and expensive to run / own a vehicle that you will give up, but that would be a conspiracy theory wouldn't it.

[Raakhee]

On 22/05/2023 at 09:06, Surfer said:

I am very surprised that no one has been able to answer my question regarding Adblue and whether the system should be drained at every service and replenished with fresh Adblue? 

I only had my diesel Renegade for 2.5yrs and only topped up twice.

Didn't affect any performance by not filling up every 6 months nor was it drained at the 2 services I had.

In fact I still have half of a 10L bottle left over

[digger]

On 22/05/2023 at 14:28, Caroline12 said:

I personally think it will absolutely fine, it’s not mixed with any thing in the tank, it is being used. Between services I would top it up with what you have. 
the only affect I know of Adblue is if some dries out it crystallises. In a moving vehicle the tank it’s splashing about and will be fine. You could pour what you have into the tank through a fine sieve to stop any hard bits entering the engine pipe work system.

 

I tend to think of stuff like this as petrol and diesel fuel cans and lawn mowers/strimmers etc. the advice is you should change your fuel every  6 months to a year, because it goes stale it’s not a piece of bread. Petrol/diesel will still burn just as well after 1 week as 6 months/1 year old. All that happens is the lightest elements of the petrol/diesel could have evaporated off, but most of the fuel will still be absolutely fine to burn. I don’t know anyone who has enough money to thrown 1 year fuel away and where do you throw it same with Adblue 

 

I can see no reason why you can’t just add it to your Adblue tank, but maybe sieve/filter it first for crystallisation particles, because they won’t help the pipeline system.

 

as for lack of responses, quite a few are on a Jeep trek event, so they are busy off-roading

 

it doesn’t have to be drained, just topped up. 

 

Hi Caroline, You are quite correct but actually there can be an issue with keeping unleaded for a longer period especially when it has air above it. I am also a member of the 'Old Lawnmower Club'  who restore and renovate ,mainly pre war machines. Some of the members noticed that unleaded left in fuel tanks over the  Autumn /winter time went browner in colour (I'm sure we;ve all noticed that) and then slowly gained gelatinous deposits in the liquid which caused problems. Some of the more scientific members analysed the substance and were surprised to discover that it was bacterial!  Yes, alive!. The conclusion was that as toxic lead had been removed many years ago then the unleaded had become a potential growth medium for small organisms. So, don't keep it too long!

A lot of this stuff about shelf life is utter nonsense as you say. I have heard it said about all sorts including antifreeze, engine oils, gear oil etc. Rubbish as long as its sealed. This is especially true of brake fluid which is hydroscopic and will absorb water to its detriment. It should always be well sealed, preferably with air removed.

Edited May 26 by digger

[Caroline12]

53 minutes ago, digger said:

I am also a member of the 'Old Lawnmower Club'  who restore and renovate ,mainly pre war machines. Some of the members noticed that unleaded left in fuel tanks over the  Autumn /winter time went browner in colour (I'm sure we;ve all noticed that) and then slowly gained gelatinous deposits in the liquid which caused problems. Some of the more scientific members analysed the substance and were surprised to discover that it was bacterial!  Yes, alive!. The conclusion was that as toxic lead had been removed many years ago then the unleaded had become a potential growth medium for small organisms. So, don't keep it too long!

I didn’t know unleaded gasoline grew bacteria over time in fuel tanks, thanks for that. 
I knew diesel fuel over time does the same thing and when it is pump/sucked through to the filters it blocks fuel filters.
Toxic lead killing bacteria as well, the good old days of leaded petrol
thanks Phil

[digger]

Hi Caroline, I didn't know diesel could have these problems as well.

The thing that makes me laugh is I saw on the news recently that Cheltenham intends taking steps to reduce 'Nitrogen dioxide' pollution from cars. I think I'm correct in saying that NO2 is the gas that is produced by that awful E10 rubbish and is the reason E10 is banned in a number of U.S. states including California.  LOL!

Edited May 26 by digger

[Caroline12]

On 26/05/2023 at 19:10, digger said:

NO2 is the gas that is produced by that awful E10 rubbish

That’s not quite true. NoX is produce when you have high internal flame temperatures as the gas  burns in the cylinder space. The flame front temperature, this is not to confused with exhaust gas temperatures, as that is the temperature of exhaust gas  in the exhaust manifold. From memory NoX is produced from 1200-1300c. 

better quality fuel E5 burns at a low temperature in the cylinders, therefore producing less NoX and better for your engine. so I suspect that’s the reason E10 is banned in some States in the US. 
 

E10 fuel has more Ethanol? In the fuel which causes higher burning temperatures in the cylinder space, thus producing more NoX. 
lower exhaust temperatures in the combustion space also reduce burnout of valves in heads and reduce higher thermal stressing of other components including turbo chargers etc, less long term damage to your engine. 

If your vehicle struggles passing emissions in the MoT, put in E5 super fuel and your emissions will drop to a lower level. 

[Raakhee]

Wow! E10 produces more NOX. The very thing we are being penalised for. Sounds like a Govt SCAM!

[Caroline12]

Yes it is a scam, I would only recommend putting in E5, the better petrol into your tank, look after your engine on the inside.

[BLUE STAR]

Yep got a Mazda 2 sweet little 1.5L engine with matching 6 speed auto and has never had any E10 from day one that it was introduced.

Very interesting about the temperature & NOX Caroline, its not something I've ever looked into, (or the gelling if left in the tank too long. WOW !)

Don't stick that one on YouTube or it might get censored along with all the other so called 'misinformation'  

Why is NOX considered bad anyway, more nitrous oxide in your body is beneficial at it lowers blood pressure.

These smaller high pressured & hot turbo / twin turbo engines must produce lashings of NOX.

Was reading about a guy in the US who replaced his old V8 Toyota which he used for towing for 400,000 + miles, with a new twin turbo V6 version and the engine blew at 35,000. (under warranty)

[V]

NOX is what causes the visible smog that hangs in city air.

[UKTJ]

I thought this thread was about adblue

[Caroline12]

Threads adapt and change sometimes

[TimC]

9 hours ago, BLUE STAR said:

Why is NOX considered bad anyway, more nitrous oxide in your body is beneficial at it lowers blood pressure

 

It’s Nitric Oxide, NO, that lowers blood pressure. Nitric Oxide is an unstable short term localised Vasodilator, hence the lowering of blood pressure. It can be safely inhaled in very low concentrations (~40ppm) and is used in a variety of medical treatments. It readily changes into Nitrogen Dioxide, NO2, in the presence of Oxygen , NO2 can be poisonous, it’s all a question of concentrations. N2O is Nitrous Oxide used as a anaesthetic carrier gas and in ‘gas and air’ . NOX seems to be a vague term which people apply to all three

Pretty sure it’s NO2 that people worry about though from an air pollution perspective.

 

Sorry, nothing to do with Adblue

[stewart]

"AdBlue® is made of 67.5% demineralised water and 32.5% urea. However, urea is not strictly speaking urine, but rather one of its components.

In addition, no human or animal urine is used to create the urea in AdBlue®. Instead, it is produced through a chemical reaction between ammonia and natural gas"

[BLUE STAR]

All good educational stuff