Update May 2025: @AgentCain posted recently to detail a fix carried out to the existing tank that appears to be a potential game-changer, you can here about here - good luck!
Update January 2025: thanks to the posts made by @jacques38 this month (skip to the end of this topic at around page 23 / posts ~440 or so) please keep an eye on this link from the middle of January 2025 and you might be able to submit a claim.
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TL: DR Summary: if you've stumbled across this chances are you've got the UREA warning, fault messages and a countdown to the car not starting, chances are you need a new UREA tank, it's very expensive but contacting Citroen directly (0800 0939393) might result in it being replaced with a new updated part for zero cost as they are fully aware of this issue but not actively recalling it because it's not a safety thing.
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The longer tale...
As you may have read on here already we had an issue with our 2016 BlueHDi 100 equipped car recently, I just wanted to document what happened and where we've ended up in the hope it helps people searching for the same thing in the future in the hope it saves them some stress / money.
Back in December the car suddenly decided to "smoke", a closer check revealed that it was actually "steam" but more interestingly it had a strong UREA smell, I surmised that the AdBlue injector was open and pouring AdBlue into the exhaust, the smell and white residue around the exhaust tip and bumper seemed to support this.
I called Citroen to discuss this and at the same time asked if there were any pending recalls for our car as servicing etc had been done outside of the network - they confirmed there was a job outstanding to replace a CAT bracket and another to replace the AdBlue cap with a newer vented one. I booked the car in for the "smoke" checking over and the other bits doing.
On picking the car up I didn't get charged and no issues were detected, the warranty work was carried out. As I followed in my car I saw the "smoke" again. Citroen hadn't looked at it at all.
So the next day we put diesel in, the smoke stopped and never came back - odd right?
Three weeks later, car loaded up with family and luggage we headed south for a 600 mile round trip for New Year, 30 miles in and the displays lit up... "Engine Fault: Have the vehicle repaired", "Emissions fault: starting prevented in 700 miles", the UREA light was flashing, the engine warning light on and the "SERVICE" indicator lit up permanently. Breakdown cover in place I decided to carry on with the thought that it was just the AdBlue tank playing up, we needed 600 miles, we had 700 in the bag. The car felt fine, performance was normal, economy as good as always.
I tried to book in with a Citroen dealership in Surrey, they never got back to me so we headed back up home and booked in at the one here in Yorkshire on the basis they would carry out a £144 diagnostics check and then tell me what needed doing.
(* I now know that Citroen Fixed Price Repairs quote diagnostics as £120 inc VAT and labour so watch out for this *)
In the meantime I pulled the codes I could with a reader and the Torque app, my FAP app wouldn't work for some reason - P20EE, P16EA and P208E error codes came up.
P20EE: Depollution of the deNOx system: Emission control ineffective.
P16EA: Depollution of the deNOx system: Excess emission of ammonia.
P208E: DeNOx system circuit: Detection of a blockage.
None of these are really that conclusive and rely on further checks, ideally with the support of Citroen Technical Service Bulletins to guide you, something I obviously didn't have.
So the car went in to Citroen and they came back with a request for another £144 for more diagnostics, it seems the tech hadn't bothered to warm the car so when he put it on their machine cold it said it needed to be up to temp, they expected me to cover this.
They also suggested I should pay...
1. £199 because they couldn't find the service book in the car and it would therefore need a service (it's not in for a service, the book is in the car though, just not out, it's been serviced).
3. £48 for a tyre inflation kit as ours is out of date.
4. £59 to change brake fluid despite levels being fine and it being done recently because "Citroën recommend its changed every 2 years".
5. £155 to investigate oil on the gearbox (at the last service they kinked the seal on the oil filter and it leaked a bit).
And a number I forget for a couple of other things like replacing 50% worn brake pads, it was £738.80 of work and that's still just to diagnose and replace things that didn't need doing and not to fix the thing it went in for.
I declined the "extras" but, much as it pained me, authorised the extra diagnostics because I was already £144 in.
I called Citroen UK at this point (0800 0939393) and opened a case with them about the "extras" they had tried to include and the way the diagnostics had doubled in cost, they listened and logged it for me on the basis I could update them later.
The dealer carried out the extra diagnostics then came back with the news - £1995 for a new AdBlue tank, the diagnostics and 2.5 hours labour to fit it. I was a bit shocked as I'd already read up on how much others had paid for the same and this was a lot more than any other prices I'd seen. They came down to £1750 as a token gesture but I was still not too impressed and told them to hang on to to the car so I could work some things out.
So I called Citroen back with this and the moment I mentioned a full tank replacement they said "we get a lot of those and usually cover the cost, let me assign this to a handler" - and they did this. And 4 days later they confirmed they'd cover the full cost of a new tank.
It took a while for this to get through to the dealer but 2 weeks and a day after first dropping off the car we got it back with a new updated AdBlue tank, fully fitted, with no charge for anything, not even the diagnostics.
Now the annoying thing is that the service chap at the garage said they know all about this, they know Citroen will usually try to cover the cost (even if the car hasn't been looked after by them) but, as dealers and not Citroen they can't tell customers because it would seem like they were generating their own easy to come by work. This doesn't seem right but apparently that's how it is and it's kind of understandable when you think about it.
So if you've made it this far here's my summary if you have AdBlue issues similar to this or just have a BlueHDi 100 car that was made before 2018/19 when I think they changed the cap.
1. Speak to your dealer and get the new cap fitted if you don't already have one - this supposedly vents excess pressure which is apparently causing the injector and sensor in the tank to fail prematurely. Now I reckon they'll fail earlier than they should anyway at some point but this might buy you some time or hopefully stop it happening.
2. Take out an extended warranty if it's not too expensive.
3. If you already have issues with AdBlue warnings etc (not just to top up obviously) then raise a case with Citroen themselves (0800 0939393)
4. Get diagnostics done to confirm the issue is with the tank and that it needs replacing with one of the newer improved ones - this might not need to be at Citroen if you have a good independent diagnostics place with Citroen kit that you can use but if you want to go on and raise a case with Citroen it's highly likely they'll insist on diagnostics from one of their main dealers rather than an independent.
5. Supply Citroen with all the facts and ask if they will cover the cost or contribute towards them.
6. Worst case don't pay full price for the part from Citroen - the invoice I have indicates the £1000 I was quoted is inflated and they can get them for £750 but bizarrely a Saab / Mini specialist I've used before called Neos Brothers is currently selling them brand new, OEM parts that are the latest type, for around £650 or a little more on eBay. Other suppliers may also have them - the part number seems to be 9818703780 and the same part seems to fit the 1.6 HDI 70, 95, 90, 92, 110 as well as the BlueHDi 75, 100, 110, 120 and many others like the 1.4 HDi but check this obviously.
Fitting should take 2 hours or so.
Sorry this is a long ramble but I'm hoping the 100s of people that seem to be searching for help with these issues find this and get the support from Citroen I did, maybe Citroen / Peugeot will eventually do the right thing and issue a proper recall for this and replace all the tanks before these cars get to an age where the tank costs as much as the car is worth.
Really interested to hear from anyone else with experience to add around this issue, anyone with better knowledge of all of this as I'm new to it all, Cactus owners or otherwise, so please add your thoughts if you have a moment.
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Update January 2025: thanks to the posts made by @jacques38 this month (skip to the end of this topic at around page 23 / posts ~440 or so) please keep an eye on this link from the middle of January 2025 and you might be able to submit a claim.
-----------------------------------------------------
TL: DR Summary: if you've stumbled across this chances are you've got the UREA warning, fault messages and a countdown to the car not starting, chances are you need a new UREA tank, it's very expensive but contacting Citroen directly (0800 0939393) might result in it being replaced with a new updated part for zero cost as they are fully aware of this issue but not actively recalling it because it's not a safety thing.
------------------------------------------------------
The longer tale...
As you may have read on here already we had an issue with our 2016 BlueHDi 100 equipped car recently, I just wanted to document what happened and where we've ended up in the hope it helps people searching for the same thing in the future in the hope it saves them some stress / money.
Back in December the car suddenly decided to "smoke", a closer check revealed that it was actually "steam" but more interestingly it had a strong UREA smell, I surmised that the AdBlue injector was open and pouring AdBlue into the exhaust, the smell and white residue around the exhaust tip and bumper seemed to support this.
I called Citroen to discuss this and at the same time asked if there were any pending recalls for our car as servicing etc had been done outside of the network - they confirmed there was a job outstanding to replace a CAT bracket and another to replace the AdBlue cap with a newer vented one. I booked the car in for the "smoke" checking over and the other bits doing.
On picking the car up I didn't get charged and no issues were detected, the warranty work was carried out. As I followed in my car I saw the "smoke" again. Citroen hadn't looked at it at all.
So the next day we put diesel in, the smoke stopped and never came back - odd right?
Three weeks later, car loaded up with family and luggage we headed south for a 600 mile round trip for New Year, 30 miles in and the displays lit up... "Engine Fault: Have the vehicle repaired", "Emissions fault: starting prevented in 700 miles", the UREA light was flashing, the engine warning light on and the "SERVICE" indicator lit up permanently. Breakdown cover in place I decided to carry on with the thought that it was just the AdBlue tank playing up, we needed 600 miles, we had 700 in the bag. The car felt fine, performance was normal, economy as good as always.
I tried to book in with a Citroen dealership in Surrey, they never got back to me so we headed back up home and booked in at the one here in Yorkshire on the basis they would carry out a £144 diagnostics check and then tell me what needed doing.
(* I now know that Citroen Fixed Price Repairs quote diagnostics as £120 inc VAT and labour so watch out for this *)
In the meantime I pulled the codes I could with a reader and the Torque app, my FAP app wouldn't work for some reason - P20EE, P16EA and P208E error codes came up.
P20EE: Depollution of the deNOx system: Emission control ineffective.
P16EA: Depollution of the deNOx system: Excess emission of ammonia.
P208E: DeNOx system circuit: Detection of a blockage.
None of these are really that conclusive and rely on further checks, ideally with the support of Citroen Technical Service Bulletins to guide you, something I obviously didn't have.
So the car went in to Citroen and they came back with a request for another £144 for more diagnostics, it seems the tech hadn't bothered to warm the car so when he put it on their machine cold it said it needed to be up to temp, they expected me to cover this.
They also suggested I should pay...
1. £199 because they couldn't find the service book in the car and it would therefore need a service (it's not in for a service, the book is in the car though, just not out, it's been serviced).
3. £48 for a tyre inflation kit as ours is out of date.
4. £59 to change brake fluid despite levels being fine and it being done recently because "Citroën recommend its changed every 2 years".
5. £155 to investigate oil on the gearbox (at the last service they kinked the seal on the oil filter and it leaked a bit).
And a number I forget for a couple of other things like replacing 50% worn brake pads, it was £738.80 of work and that's still just to diagnose and replace things that didn't need doing and not to fix the thing it went in for.
I declined the "extras" but, much as it pained me, authorised the extra diagnostics because I was already £144 in.
I called Citroen UK at this point (0800 0939393) and opened a case with them about the "extras" they had tried to include and the way the diagnostics had doubled in cost, they listened and logged it for me on the basis I could update them later.
The dealer carried out the extra diagnostics then came back with the news - £1995 for a new AdBlue tank, the diagnostics and 2.5 hours labour to fit it. I was a bit shocked as I'd already read up on how much others had paid for the same and this was a lot more than any other prices I'd seen. They came down to £1750 as a token gesture but I was still not too impressed and told them to hang on to to the car so I could work some things out.
So I called Citroen back with this and the moment I mentioned a full tank replacement they said "we get a lot of those and usually cover the cost, let me assign this to a handler" - and they did this. And 4 days later they confirmed they'd cover the full cost of a new tank.
It took a while for this to get through to the dealer but 2 weeks and a day after first dropping off the car we got it back with a new updated AdBlue tank, fully fitted, with no charge for anything, not even the diagnostics.
Now the annoying thing is that the service chap at the garage said they know all about this, they know Citroen will usually try to cover the cost (even if the car hasn't been looked after by them) but, as dealers and not Citroen they can't tell customers because it would seem like they were generating their own easy to come by work. This doesn't seem right but apparently that's how it is and it's kind of understandable when you think about it.
So if you've made it this far here's my summary if you have AdBlue issues similar to this or just have a BlueHDi 100 car that was made before 2018/19 when I think they changed the cap.
1. Speak to your dealer and get the new cap fitted if you don't already have one - this supposedly vents excess pressure which is apparently causing the injector and sensor in the tank to fail prematurely. Now I reckon they'll fail earlier than they should anyway at some point but this might buy you some time or hopefully stop it happening.
2. Take out an extended warranty if it's not too expensive.
3. If you already have issues with AdBlue warnings etc (not just to top up obviously) then raise a case with Citroen themselves (0800 0939393)
4. Get diagnostics done to confirm the issue is with the tank and that it needs replacing with one of the newer improved ones - this might not need to be at Citroen if you have a good independent diagnostics place with Citroen kit that you can use but if you want to go on and raise a case with Citroen it's highly likely they'll insist on diagnostics from one of their main dealers rather than an independent.
5. Supply Citroen with all the facts and ask if they will cover the cost or contribute towards them.
6. Worst case don't pay full price for the part from Citroen - the invoice I have indicates the £1000 I was quoted is inflated and they can get them for £750 but bizarrely a Saab / Mini specialist I've used before called Neos Brothers is currently selling them brand new, OEM parts that are the latest type, for around £650 or a little more on eBay. Other suppliers may also have them - the part number seems to be 9818703780 and the same part seems to fit the 1.6 HDI 70, 95, 90, 92, 110 as well as the BlueHDi 75, 100, 110, 120 and many others like the 1.4 HDi but check this obviously.
Fitting should take 2 hours or so.
Sorry this is a long ramble but I'm hoping the 100s of people that seem to be searching for help with these issues find this and get the support from Citroen I did, maybe Citroen / Peugeot will eventually do the right thing and issue a proper recall for this and replace all the tanks before these cars get to an age where the tank costs as much as the car is worth.
Really interested to hear from anyone else with experience to add around this issue, anyone with better knowledge of all of this as I'm new to it all, Cactus owners or otherwise, so please add your thoughts if you have a moment.
