Adblue and engine light with countdown to doomsday only partially cleared.

[RYAustralia]

Driving out west in North Queensland
about 650km from home and went over a gentle undulation on the blacktop road and got an Adblue fault warning and orange engine light appear. Failed to show any fault code on OBD reader. I drove on for another 50 km then it switched to different message saying I have 396km before it would fail to restart. Countdown began. Then about 50km further down the road spontaneously the engine light disappeared as did the countdown to imminent death. The Adblue error message still persists but nothing else. Am heading generally inland for another 5 hours before heading home, total trip remaining is 1700km. Only intermittent mobile signal but a fairly frequently used highway and I have an emergency locater beacons as well as UHF radio with me. Am planning to forge ahead and hope for the best. Dealer is at least 700km away if I returned back now. Any thoughts? I’m crossing fingers and ploughing on. Or is that foolhardy?

 

[Tazzieman]

Adblue sensor wire connector?

 

[RYAustralia]

Adblue sensor wire connector?

It’s a good thought. I’ll crawl under the vehicle tomorrow and take a look. I assume it’ll be located somewhere under the car around the Adblue tanks?

 

[Commodore]

Driving out west in North Queensland
about 650km from home and went over a gentle undulation on the blacktop road and got an Adblue fault warning and orange engine light appear. Failed to show any fault code on OBD reader. I drove on for another 50 km then it switched to different message saying I have 396km before it would fail to restart. Countdown began. Then about 50km further down the road spontaneously the engine light disappeared as did the countdown to imminent death. The Adblue error message still persists but nothing else. Am heading generally inland for another 5 hours before heading home, total trip remaining is 1700km. Only intermittent mobile signal but a fairly frequently used highway and I have an emergency locater beacons as well as UHF radio with me. Am planning to forge ahead and hope for the best. Dealer is at least 700km away if I returned back now. Any thoughts? I’m crossing fingers and ploughing on. Or is that foolhardy?

I’m unclear, are you just low on Adblue and getting the warning light? Have you tried adding DEF?

 

[Commodore]

Modern diesel engines are so overly complex. The political masterminds have made it if you run out of DEF the computer will not allow the engine to run. I used to get the same warning in my L405 Range Rover. They would rather leave you stranded then allow the engine to run and violate their green agenda. No emergency override and no leeway.

 

[Tazzieman]

It’s a good thought. I’ll crawl under the vehicle tomorrow and take a look. I assume it’ll be located somewhere under the car around the Adblue tanks?

Presume so. I don't have the diesel.
If you are travelling with someone get them to watch the warning display whilst you wiggle wires.

 

[RYAustralia]

I’m unclear, are you just low on Adblue and getting the warning light? Have you tried adding DEF?

Adblue is on 90%. Not short. Light came on all of a sudden. No warning. I had topped up with 6L Adblue before the trip and only travelled 700km since then so i know it’s not short. And the level info on the vehicle info confirms 90% which is about right.

 

[NQ94]

There are proprietary DEF codes for some vehicles that a generic OBD tool won't read. You may wiggle the wires and it won't show a code immediately unless the system is operating while the engine is running. The Adblue tank is positioned high in the chassis it could be difficult to reach any wiring without removing a cover in the floor. Top up the AdBlue with new fluid and see what happens. Some DEF systems will log an intermittent fault with engine and DEF fault light the engine light will clear then the Def light resets after a set time or distance if the fault doesn't reoccur.
The easiest place to check wiring is at the SCR muffler sensors and the AdBlue dosing injector. Check that wiring for security and for any damage.

 

[Commodore]

Adblue is on 90%. Not short. Light came on all of a sudden. No warning. I had topped up with 6L Adblue before the trip and only travelled 700km since then so i know it’s not short. And the level info on the vehicle info confirms 90% which is about right.

This sounds software related and not hardware. The warnings are as if it is running out of DEF. Have you done a hard reboot yet? Stop, turn it off, lock the doors, and wait five minutes

 

[RYAustralia]

This sounds software related and not hardware. The warnings are as if it is running out of DEF. Have you done a hard reboot yet? Stop, turn it off, lock the doors, and wait five minutes

Yep. Did that twice already. Waited half hour.

 

[RYAustralia]

There are proprietary DEF codes for some vehicles that a generic OBD tool won't read. You may wiggle the wires and it won't show a code immediately unless the system is operating while the engine is running. The Adblue tank is positioned high in the chassis it could be difficult to reach any wiring without removing a cover in the floor. Top up the AdBlue with new fluid and see what happens. Some DEF systems will log an intermittent fault with engine and DEF fault light the engine light will clear then the Def light resets after a set time or distance if the fault doesn't reoccur.
The easiest place to check wiring is at the SCR muffler sensors and the AdBlue dosing injector. Check that wiring for security and for any damage.

Thanks will give that a go this morning.

 

[RYAustralia]

Thanks everyone for input. Great community for knowledge and support. Very much appreciated.

Reading through the forums and educating myself from experts here and discussion with my Ineos dealer head mechanic too what has likely happened is the ad blue was pretty full to over 90%. When I’ve gone over a bump on the road it has likely affected the level sensor and thrown an error. After driving a short while it has then started the Adblue countdown to death. Then after another 50 k of driving and no more errors the engine light has gone off and the countdown has stopped. Phew. Then this morning on startup the Adblue error has gone completely. Hopefully won’t recur.

Lesson from this is to keep ad blue to 80% or less.

Fingers crossed that’s the last of the drama from it this trip.