Urea bag empty?

muletide

Looking for some guidance.

My wife brought a car (2012 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - 150,000km on the clock) to a garage today as it was reading a fault "Risk of Particle Filter Clogging"

Mechanic ran a diagnostic and advised that the Urea Bag was almost empty and needed to be replaced.

Will receive exact price tomorrow but was advised it will be around 400 Euro.

This sounds excessive to me as, can it not just be refilled ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Just take a wazz on the exhaust,make sure its hot.........

biko

You need AdBlue
https://www.parkers.co.uk/citroen/grand-c4-picasso/estate-2014/long-term-reviews/september---feeling-a-little-adblue/

muletide

biko wrote: »

You need AdBlue
https://www.parkers.co.uk/citroen/grand-c4-picasso/estate-2014/long-term-reviews/september---feeling-a-little-adblue/

Thanks Biko

I don't know if the 2012 version takes AdBlue also any idea why I am being quoted in excess of 400 for what seems like just a refill job?

bazz26

It could be the eolys fluid for the DPF. I remember having to get it refilled on a Volvo S40 at one time and it wasn't cheap either.

deandean

You've two disparate problems there OP:

'Risk of Particle Filter Clogging' means your DPF is clogged. You'll need either a replacement DPF, or there are companies that clean you DPF although a garage will have to remove & replace it.

You should get a specific 'Additive Low' warning then the EOLYS fluid gets low. This usually happens at 150k to 180k km. This'll cost about €300 to refill.

Best of luck!

colm_mcm

biko wrote: »

You need AdBlue
https://www.parkers.co.uk/citroen/grand-c4-picasso/estate-2014/long-term-reviews/september---feeling-a-little-adblue/

If it’s a bag then it’s Eolys fluid and not adblue. This comes in a bag like a drip. They’re not really designed to be refilled, but it’s not impossible. Apparently the bags can burst when being refilled.


Edit: Oh. What he said ^

sligopaul

recently topped up 2012 2.0 hdi citroen DS5 for 180

TigerTim

I had to replace the Eolys fluid on my Citroen C-crosser about 2 years ago. Was €405 . Only available from main stealer & my mechanic fitted it. Came in bag like a drip bag.

T.

_Brian

muletide wrote: »

Looking for some guidance.

My wife brought a car (2012 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - 150,000km on the clock) to a garage today as it was reading a fault "Risk of Particle Filter Clogging"

Mechanic ran a diagnostic and advised that the Urea Bag was almost empty and needed to be replaced.

Will receive exact price tomorrow but was advised it will be around 400 Euro.

This sounds excessive to me as, can it not just be refilled ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We had a 2009 version of the same car.

It’s a Stupid system to say the least.

It injects fluid into the tank based on the number of times you open the flap, so someone constantly topping up by €10 of fuel will use way more than someone getting a full fill of fuel each time.

Them there was a flaw in that the bag wears and leaks, not only needing topping up but actually replacing or some rubbish like that.

Very poor design of a system.

Irish Steve

The Eolys system changed a number of times during it's life, and it's important to check which version the vehicle has, I know of 3, the connectors in the pack vary by size and colour code to match the system on the vehicle, and there are differences in pack sizes. Some vehicles have a soft bag type pouch, which can be refilled with care, some have a hard plastic tank, which is less vulnerable to problems, and also can be refilled, but to avoid problems, it is NOT a job to do on the ground, due to the connectors being a pain to get to and remove. It's horrible stuff to work with, if you plan on doing the job yourself, decent vinyl gloves are a must, and wear old clothes that do not matter if they get stained, and Eolys stains clothing and skin very easily. While the actual refill can be done relatively easily and quickly on a ramp, the other issue is that it needs a good diagnostic computer (not necessarily the specific PSA package) to reset the values in the electronics to tell the thing that the tank has been filled, and some main dealers are now charging €90 for the use of a diagnostic computer on the vehicle. The fluid is available from motor factors as well as PSA dealers, and is usually cheaper from the factors, and a good independent garage that has a sensible diagnostic computer can refill the tank or pouch and reset the computer for a lot less than €400.

As I understand it, the 2011 version (though I've not proved it yet), the quantity injected after a fill is related to the change in the fuel tank sensor level, so while it is based on the fact that the tank flap has been opened, it will put more into a fill than if you just throw in €10 worth. I suspect that there is a minimum quantity that will be injected, so constantly throwing in €10 may use proportionally more than filling it. Having said that, given that the push button is live when the key is out of the ignition, it's not something to let the kids play with.

It seems to work more reliably than some of the systems that rely on regeneration, and while getting a DPF cleaned used to be an issue, there are a number of places around now that offer a relatively cheap and quick cleaning process with checks to ensure that the filter is indeed clear and clean after the treatment. Yes, it's not as straightforward as the newer Adblue system, but remember that Eolys came out quite some time before Adblue became regularly available on smaller engines. Yes, Adblue is a lot cheaper and easier to work with, but from what I've seen over the last number of years, the Eolys concept has been a lot more reliable than some of the systems that were used on similar age vehicles from other manufacturers. In some cases, while in theory the DPF is supposed to be replaced at around 180K, depending on how the car has been operated, in a lot of cases, the computer can be told it's been replaced without actually replacing it, and it will continue to work well for a long time afterwards, and even when it does start giving warnings, a clean will often restore it for continued use.

My own vehicle is a 2011 C4 1.6 Hdi, with a high mileage on it, (>320K Kilometers) and in the last 2 years, I've refilled the Eolys, but there have been no other DPF related issues with it, and the economy is very good, in that it's not pushing extra fuel through to do a regeneration in the way that things like Mazdas and others do. I do a mix of local short and longer motorway runs, which seems to work well, although we do see issues with warnings on cars that spend most of their time on short school runs, but they are usually sorted by a good blast on a local motorway in 4th gear.

muletide

Steve, that is an amazing reply - thanks for all the detail.

godtabh

TigerTim wrote: »

I had to replace the Eolys fluid on my Citroen C-crosser about 2 years ago. Was €405 . Only available from main stealer & my mechanic fitted it. Came in bag like a drip bag.

T.

I got it done in a c4 about 3 months ago and it was about that price