Not sure if this is the place but still someone will tell me otherwise.
My Company has got 10 Volvo FH13’s since March which puts some on ‘56’ plates and others on ‘07’ plates.
All very nice top spec i-shift etc, but— They are all are euro 5 engines.
So far all bar two have had problems with the adblue system.
most seem to be the same too needing the main pump system changing.
This is fine as its under warrenty, but Volvo uk are having hassle getting them in.
So far Volvo truck are only suppling the whole unit — seems that we out on the road are doing their testing work.
We get the warning on the dash, but it does not seem to do anything else, we were told power would be down.
has any one else had problems?
Ta
John 
I’m due to get the same truck new next week so I’ll let you know if I have any problems with it.
We’ve got a big order of the same spec and we got the first three in Essex about a month ago and as far as I’m aware they’ve had no problems with them.
CW
volvos and ad blue , what a joke , several 07 fh13 have been back in to get the pumps looked at ,
dont forget it is Aqueous Urea Solution
or in english
“sheep wee”
I had a demo FH 440 with I-Shift for just over two weeks and had absolutely no problems with the AdBlue system. Or anything else for that matter.
What a lovely relaxing truck to drive and live in. 
I achieved 10.57 mpg on UK general haulage during my time with it.
I liked it the truck very much - we now have 25 on order.
Hope I get one.
Glad you liked it, funny though, ours are the 480 bhp version, so far no one has bettered 9mpg yet!
They are a nice drive but could doo with a bit more flat space to put things down.
Hi John,
We’ve had three FH13 running for a month and guess what? One of them has started to show problems with the adblue system. One of the next three trucks turned up today and I asked the Volvo guy and to be honest he was a bit sheepish when I asked him about problems with it. I got the feeling it wasn’t a rare problem. My truck is being delivered next friday, so fingers crossed mine will be ok. It was my first time in a Volvo cab and I was really impressed with it. I’m taking the truck that came today out next week for the experience before I get mine, so I’m hoping it drives like it looks.
Are you still having problems?
CW
I drove a 56 plate 480 Volvo with Adblue, was prob getting 11mpg a lot of the time but was carrying aluminium and at times truck basically empty.
Also drove a Daf which which ran on adblue, company had a couple of hire trucks for a few weeks. At the time couldnt get any adblue so when it ran out drove it without adblue. It never made any difference. Adblue gets squirted into the exhast after combustion to reduce emissions so shouldnt really effect the running of the truck i assume. Biggest problem is supposedly you get cheaper road tax running adblue and if your caught driving without any can get into trouble.
Saying that customs and excise were dippin tanks at Forton (Lancaster) services dipped the Volvo 480 and it was the first time they had seen an adblue truck. They were asking me about it how it drove. The higher ranking guy said this is a fuel additive to the young guy working with him, i told him it wasnt told him it was sprayed in after combustion kinda thing so not a fuel addictive and not burnt.
Volvo bloke was telling me yesterday that the engine has no problem running without adblue but if you kept doing it, it could damage the exhaust system. Its true that adblue has nothing to do with the fuel system and its injected into the exhaust system. To stop operators getting tax breaks from having euro 5 and then running without adblue, by law they are now building trucks with a system that cuts engine power by 40% if its being used without adblue after a certain number of k’s. I think he said it was called EBH but could be wrong.
Don’t forget if you get adblue on your hands it made from URINE!!!
CW
yep sheeps wee
baaaaa. baaaa
Hi, yes still getting hassle, mine does still use it though. Volvo say the units are on back order at the moment, so far have found that clearing the fault is fine only returning when i restart.
Mine was fine for nine weeks or 22k but this seems tobe the point with ours that they show problems. Not good when its 10 weeks old!
Vosa have said there will be a problem if they dip a tank and find it dry too.
The latest i-shift box is good though, better than the one i had in my ‘05’ plate
So far four of the unit are not using any adblue but run fine and two that have been in for repair have gone down again!
I still think as drivers/owners that we are being used to test these things.
The last four had their control boxes changed before we got them, instead of being painted red they were unpainted.
all well we will see!
Wilde1:
Don’t forget if you get adblue on your hands it made from URINE!!!CW
But you wont ever suffer with chilblaines!!!
Kenny1975:
Biggest problem is supposedly you get cheaper road tax running adblue and if your caught driving without any can get into trouble.
Kenny, I think that you don’t get a tax cut unless the vehicle is fitted with a system which cuts engine power when the ad-blue runs out. The earlier Euro-4 trucks without this system don’t get the cut but can be driven as normal. You’re right though, you will get into trouble if your caught driving without it, you will get into trouble. 
One of our drivers told me he was filling up last week in France at an AS24.
A Lithuanian pulled up next to him and filled his Adblue can from the water tap and tipped it into his Adblue tank.
I know they inject water into rally cars exhaust manifolds to give them more power, The Lithuanian probably needed more fire 
Mind you. I suppose diluted sheep wee is better than no wee
I use it in the volvo engined Magnum when you run out it makes no difference to the proformance mpg or anything else it just puts a light on, it is what it is, does what it is, and it takes it too. The only difference is about 32p per litre cheaper if you buy your own!
Volvo’s UK Truck Evaluation manager told me that AdBlue is approximately 82% water and 18% urea.
He also said that an SCR equipped truck will run without AdBlue, but it will eventually damage the exhaust system.
As I understand it, in order to get a Reduced Pollution Certificate and thus qualify for cheaper VED, a vehicle must be fitted with an on-board-diagnostic system. This will verify, at a glance, that the truck has been running with AdBlue in the tank. Lots of operators have bought new SCR trucks without the OBD equipment and have been very disappointed that they will still have to pay full whack for VED.
At last a solution to truck drivers urinating onto the tarmac in MSA’s, now we can pee into the adblue tank instead
Recycling, its the way forward.
When I was out in the Iveco the other week, I started getting low on AdBlue, (according to the dash), and was in a panic of where to get any. Most places I tried had never heard of it, Rugby Truck stop had a pump but it has been empty for ages, and Sylvies off J17 M4 was too far away.
Anyway, there was a 5 gallon drum rolling round the cab all week, with ad-blue stickers on it. But it looked like water, and not wanting to completely [zb] the truck up by putting water into something I knew nothing about, I didn’t fancy using it.
But as time went on and I couldn’t find any for sale, I though I may as well dump it in the tank, after all, it said Ad-Blue on the stickers !
The confusing part was that it wasn’t Blue ! But after opening the barrel and sticking my finger in, it felt a bit oily, so I figured it was worth a go.
Nothing went bang, so I carried on driving. After a while my finger started itching, and it looked like I had dipped it in acid.
Now you tell me its made of ■■■■, that makes sense. I used to work in a factory that made capacitors, and one of the processes uses acetic acid and also something that smells like Watford Gap. Only that stuff was stronger - it would take the skin right off and then the flesh !!
Next time I won’t put my finger in
And I definitely won’t ■■■■ my fingers …
smoker:
there was a 5 gallon drum rolling round the cab all week…
Could have been a bit messy (not to mention smelly) if the cap had come off
bullitt:
smoker:
there was a 5 gallon drum rolling round the cab all week…
Could have been a bit messy (not to mention smelly) if the cap had come off
It was upright, but any forced braking sent it sliding forwards. It ended up wedged next to my coolbox in the passenger footwell, so it was safe there.
It doesn’t actually smell, as that was my first test to find out what was in the barrel.
Who knows, maybe it was water after all