subject: Truck Operators Hit Hard by Cost of AdBlue Contamination [print this page] Truck Operators Hit Hard by Cost of AdBlue Contamination
AdBlue is highly susceptible to contamination and as little as 10ml of oil present in a 70 litre fill can corrupt the system causing irreversible damage.
A Crewe-based trucking company recently faced a 3500 bill for a failed SCR injector on a Renault Magnum after putting a small amount of diesel in the AdBlue tank.
Richard Brain, Regional Service Manager for PACCAR Australia, which includes DAF trucks, says just a small amount of chemical impurity in the tank can cause problems.
"What is costly for operators is if chemical additives are mixed in with the AdBlue, as they will attack the rubber seals, causing terminal damage," Brian says. "Replacing an SCR unit is over $5000 each, and this happens if diesel or other chemical contamination occurs," he says. While not common, Brain says anyone who tries to boost' the performance of the SCR unit by adding diesel, methylated spirits or other chemicals will only cause it to fail, which in turn means a full replacement.
"These units are not repairable, they are a replacement item only, you throw them away and buy a new one," Brain warns.
Of course the repair costs, even though they are significant themselves, can be the lesser evil compared with the potential forlost loads and any associated downtime whilst recovery and repairs are carried out.
A lot of effort has been made by the AdBlue distributors to try and ensure contamination free delivery of AdBlue. However, significant risks of contamination exist even after the AdBlue has made it to the truck. Since the introduction of SCR to meet the European emissions legislation, there have been a growing number of instances of AdBlue contamination caused by small amounts of diesel being put into AdBlue tanks. As this problem is not officially covered under warranty, commercial vehicle operators could be left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
However, there are preventative products on the market that can help to stop you contaminating your AdBlue fuelled vehicle and for a small protective investment you can save yourself a large repair bill and downtime of your vehicle.
The Adblue Key is a built-in mechanism which only opens when the AdBlue nozzle is inserted (manual fill or pumped), the Adblue Key has been designed so that if you do try to put diesel into the AdBlue tank and any diesel is released, it will run off through the drain off holes and none can enter the AdBlue tank. Adblue Key is made of the same polyoxymethylene (POM) materials as the rest of the SCR system, conforming to the same rigorous testing.
