rtw_travel

After reading lots on the internet about the expense & difficulty of dealing with adblue, I did it myself as part of my recent service A0.

It couldn't be easier.

I bought adblue from the local dealer. They did not sell the Mercedes brand - it was Air1 DEF fluid in the two gallon/ 9.4l box. I confirmed that this is what they would have used if I had the dealer do the same service. They said they were trying to be cost competitive, and their price was even cheaper than buying it at local autoparts stores.

Air1 DEF comes with a small screw-on flexible plastic hose. The open end of the hose fits into the fill pipe under the adblue cap near the diesel cap. I had heard that some people buy the smaller Mercedes adblue container, and then cut the bottom off to use it as a funnel... but there is no need to do that. The hose is a good fit, and nothing spilled.

It took about 2 minutes. The only problem is that you can't tell how full the tank is, other than by listening for DEF backing up the fill pipe. Rather than spill, I just added the one box of fluid this time. I'm sure there's a smarter way of doing this so that you can get closer to filling it up.

Next service I'm supposed to evacuate and clean the adblue tank - I'll report back on that next year!


Oh... and changed the oil and filter too just to complete the service. Finding the appropriate weight and grade of oil was difficult - I could only find 0W30 at the dealer, so ended up buying it & the filter there.

Strafzettel

I just scheduled Service A for my 2014 BTC and they told me that the older models were difficult to fill but the newer models where the Adblue is next to the Gas fill they just charge $8.95 per gallon and that's it. I'm not going to get the bottle from Mercedes parts department and then more Adblue from Walmart or elsewhere to save a few bucks, not worth my time.

HAILERS2

At just what time interval/ milage interval is one supposed to 'evacuate and clean the ad blue tank'??

On the fill of the DEF I just get a funnel and pour it in til it's topped off. If any is spilled I just clean it off with a wet rag. It's just urea afterall.

I don't see this in my Maint manual for my ML350. Thank you.

27T

How much did it cost you to write that post?

rtw_travel

I couldn't find it either, but the local dealer said they do it every major service. I am not sure if it is a concern over shelf life, or contamination. It seems easy enough - just siphon the tank. I'll decide next year when our major service is due.

D.

rtw_travel

The dealer price has dropped a lot, and that fill price is very reasonable.

FWIW, my view of this forum is to share tips and tricks on how to maintain and operate our vehicles. If the answer is always "you should just bring it to the dealer", then there's not much point in having a forum. I enjoy working on cars and feel much more comfortable owning the car if Ive done the maintenance myself - it's not about saving a couple of bucks.
D.

Strafzettel

I get the part about wanting to do it yourself.

HAILERS2

I found the EVACUATE AND FILL WITH DEF at the 60K maint cycle. I didn't know that had to be done before reading this thread.