AdBlue. Any tips?

"Talking of handbooks, ours states that the first service is at 30,000miles which seems rather long. I imagine the AdBlue won't last that long. Any thoughts?"

Once you have done a couple of thousand miles just top it up and note how much it takes. you can then judge what your going to use over a given mileage and if you think it's going to fall short of the 30k, refill in between. 

Try not to spill any as it will leave a white crystallized stain  around the filler neck and wherever else it ends up. 

Camperval, i wasnt doubting your word regarding the adblue filler.....and my practical advice re time/mileage between fills was ( as was Aspenshaw's, im sure) genuinely intended to help.

it looks as if Hobby are using a specific version of the Ducato ('people carrier') bases for their conversions, which dont have the latest (more expensive?) LPEGR technology, and therefore require AdBlue.

the only reason i could see for this might be to keep costs down and pass the saving (and a bit of extra work) onto the customer...

this may be the reason the sales person wasnt aware of the AdBlue requirement and didnt mention it in handover.

perhaps all other Ducatos sold there are LPEGR equipped?

either way, enjoy your van

"firstly, the Fiat Ducato does not need AdBlue , Fiat engines acheive Euro 6 without this."

Good one, BB. I'm really glad you weren't casting doubts

Our new van (Peugeot/Citroen Euro 6 engine) uses Adblue and claims that it will do about 8000miles  on a 15 litre tankful however not 8000 miles before needing filling. In preparation for a long European trip (sadly now cancelled) I bought a10ltr bottle of Adblue including filler for £14 from Halfords. There may be other and/or cheaper suppliers but that was the most convenient. If your vehicle has 30,000miles between service intervals then you will probably trigger a service by time rather than mileage. The industry reckons most motor homers wont do enough miles to need to fill up between services (around 5000-6000 miles from full since the Adblue should never be allowed to run out)  but I think a significant number will. 

AFAIK it is not practicable to use truck Adblue dispensers to fill up a small vehicle at filling stations for technical reasons. Perhaps in time filling stations in the UK will have van/car Adblue pumps. I don't know if these already exist in Europe but the best plan seems to be to leave UK with a full tank. 

Ducato MH versions dont use AdBlue, the use LPEGR technology (as clearly confirmed by the FP website) but the people carrier versions do....may be something to do with their specific type or place of use....

however, it seems Hobby are using the people carrier variant of the base unit for whatever reason.....so no doubt at all

Course not. 

Aspenshaw posted....

"BB is right. Fiat Ducato engines do not use AdBlue and never have. The Iveco engine range does. Peugeot based motorhomes do"

A, a very dangerous thing to do, associate yourself with one of my posts

still, theres no chance of you receiving the same 'Tinny Treatment' for an identical statement as i made.....he likes to save all his lurve for me

Phone the dealer you bought it from and take professional advice? 

Ah, but only one of you has been furiously back pedalling.

Then there are some makes that need ad blue and even the main dealerships do not know,  some friends of ours have a Volvo soft top and had a starting problem that the dealership workshop were unable to trace,and after Volvo HO got involved it was found it had run out of ad blue (serviced a month before)