It happened to me on Friday,I knew it was empty and wondered what would happen so after I went to restart the engine I got a power reduced message,flashing engine symbol and the gearbox won’t go into auto.
My query is,if I put water in will the truck return to normal or,does it know the difference? Has anyone run out before?
Btw. I know i shouldn’t put water in but I’m waiting on an Ibc to be delivered! This is a temporary fix.
ellies dad:
It happened to me on Friday,I knew it was empty and wondered what would happen so after I went to restart the engine I got a power reduced message,flashing engine symbol and the gearbox won’t go into auto.
My query is,if I put water in will the truck return to normal or,does it know the difference? Has anyone run out before?Btw. I know i shouldn’t put water in but I’m waiting on an Ibc to be delivered! This is a temporary fix.
I’ve heard you can add water to a Euro 4 (Bluetec 4) and it will run ok,but not a Euro 5 (Bluetec 5). Apparently the Euro 5 have more sensors on them so they can tell the difference between water and adblue. Wouldn’t try it myself though as the adblue system is costly to fix if you break it!!!
If you keep turning it off and restarting it, it will probably operate normally till you can find some Ad-Blue.
you can use water, no problem.
however, in the UK, we have a lot of chlorine, lime, and chalk in our tap water. so if you use this on a regular basis, you could clog up the cat.
i used to fill with some lovely alpine water when i was doing italy, and it has caused no problems whatsoever.
Just get a 5litre container from the garage. Water will ■■■■ your AdBlue system up.
Doesn’t the stuff crystalize in the pipes if you run out and damage the pump?.
The system does recognise the Ad Blue has run out so reduces power therefore reducing the amount of harmful (supposedly) emissions. We flush out our Ad Blue tanks with hot water on every yearly service (Volvo FL’s). This is to avoid mainly any build up of dirt in the tank that could be sent through the system. Ad Blue does chrystalise once it dries and the flushing process just ensures none of this enters the system too as the injector that sprays the Ad Blue into the exhausting gases passing through the exhaust pipe can be easily blocked and costly repairs would need carrying out which anyone would want to avoid. As water will not initially harm the system it will also do nothing for emissions exhausted and whether it will return the power to normal I couldn’t say, sounds like its already been tried though. However urinating into the tank does nothing either, people believe Ad Blue is urine based, not so it does contain Urea but the chemical make up of Ad Blue isn’t the same as your ■■■■! Franky.
Thanks for all the replys except the compulsive liar limpyhill
As far as I know Add Blue does not enter the fuel system, It is injected into to the exhaust system before the catylystic box, But please correct me if Im wrong, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
As far as I know Add Blue does not enter the fuel system, It is injected into to the exhaust system before the catylystic box, But please correct me if Im wrong, Regards Larry.
+1
+2
If an Actros runs out of Ad-blue it just goes even slower 
I don’t know what the problem is, but we seem to have a lot of ad-blue faults showing on our Mercs although they keep running OK. Often they don’t seem to use as much as normal and the engine light is on with a fault showing for the ad-blue system, but they don’t report a power reduction like they do when they run out.
No power loss whatsoever, I told by a pal of mine that has umpteen vehicles that use add blue sometimes run out of it, it comes up on the dash & tells you just that, you have no add blue & thats all, get some in quick as poss. It is an offence to run without it, as it affects the VED, Ive been told, Regards Larry.
gardun:
+2If an Actros runs out of Ad-blue it just goes even slower
I don’t know what the problem is, but we seem to have a lot of ad-blue faults showing on our Mercs although they keep running OK. Often they don’t seem to use as much as normal and the engine light is on with a fault showing for the ad-blue system, but they don’t report a power reduction like they do when they run out.
Sounds like someone is using water instead of adblue!!! 
ellies dad:
It happened to me on Friday,I knew it was empty and wondered what would happen so after I went to restart the engine I got a power reduced message,flashing engine symbol and the gearbox won’t go into auto.
My query is,if I put water in will the truck return to normal or,does it know the difference? Has anyone run out before?Btw. I know i shouldn’t put water in but I’m waiting on an Ibc to be delivered! This is a temporary fix.
I always keep a 10 litre can of it in case I run out. If I were you, I’d call into any dealership & pick some up while you’re waiting on your IBC delivery. All the DAF & Volvo dealerships I pass keep it available from thier IBCs to pump straight into your tank.
BB
A friend runs a 3 year old actros and hasn’t put any in for the last 2 years since he ran out once and found that he was just wasting his money, also you can have the function switched off, so I wouldn’t worry if I were you.
Equitran:
A friend runs a 3 year old actros and hasn’t put any in for the last 2 years since he ran out once and found that he was just wasting his money, also you can have the function switched off, so I wouldn’t worry if I were you.
3 Stars.
damoq:
gardun:
+2If an Actros runs out of Ad-blue it just goes even slower
I don’t know what the problem is, but we seem to have a lot of ad-blue faults showing on our Mercs although they keep running OK. Often they don’t seem to use as much as normal and the engine light is on with a fault showing for the ad-blue system, but they don’t report a power reduction like they do when they run out.
Sounds like someone is using water instead of adblue!!!
Nope! Genuine ad-blue 
No power loss whatsoever, I told by a pal of mine that has umpteen vehicles that use add blue sometimes run out of it, it comes up on the dash & tells you just that, you have no add blue & thats all, get some in quick as poss. It is an offence to run without it, as it affects the VED, Ive been told, Regards Larry.
Sorry - I’ve driven an Actros that ran out of ad-blue and it does lose power - fact
As far as i know, running out of adblue will not harm your truck at all. The only reason you loose power or loose your automatic side of your gearbox, is purely to deter you from running out of adblue in the first place. 
damoq:
As far as i know, running out of adblue will not harm your truck at all. The only reason you loose power or loose your automatic side of your gearbox, is purely to deter you from running out of adblue in the first place.
+1
Running out of Ad-Blue in a Euro4 Actros will make no difference to the wagon.
Running out of Ad-Blue in a Euro5 Actros will cause a loss of power, because the computer is set up to do that.
gardun:
damoq:
As far as i know, running out of adblue will not harm your truck at all. The only reason you loose power or loose your automatic side of your gearbox, is purely to deter you from running out of adblue in the first place.+1
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