Firstly, don’t worry, this happened to us! A warning message appeared recently in our Range Rover Evoque completely out of the blue. Having no idea what it was, we turned to Google, as you do. 

We found a section on Land Rover’s website that explains what the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) does. According to Land Rover, the DEF which is also known as AdBlue(trademark) is a colourless, non toxic, non-flammable, odourless fluid. It is injected into the exhaust system to clear up exhaust gases. It also helps diesel Land Rover vehicles to meet EU6 emissions legislations by reducing the levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission by up to 90%. 

Apparently the warning message comes on when you have 1500 miles left, then 1000 and then 500 miles. NOTE: If you don’t fill up and ignore the warning message, then eventually your car won’t start.

At the time of writing this post, you could easily go to Land Rover and have them fill up your Diesel Exhaust Fluid for £29.99. Or, you can do it yourself more cheaply.

How we topped up our Diesel Exhaust Fluid for our Range Rover Evoque:

You can buy 10 litre jerry cans of diesel exhaust fluid from most DIY and car parts stores. They cost between £10 – £15 per 10 litres in most places. I bought mine from Toolstation, a DIY store in the UK which comes with a handy nozzle attachment that fits snugly inside the refill pipe in the car. 

Preparation and planning before topping up diesel exhaust fluid:

We wanted to make sure that we were aware of the capacity of the tank before we went ahead and emptied a full 10 litre can into our car. We did not want to risk overfilling and cause any other complications.

Our Range Rover Evoque is a 2016 2.0 Diesel model. The total capacity of the DEF in our Evoque is 14.5 litres. Potential DEF consumption for Range Rover is set to be in the region of 530 miles per litre.

Therefore, we knew that if the warning message showed that we have enough diesel exhaust fluid left for another 1500 miles so we could work out the remaining DEF in the tank. 1500/530 = 2.83 litres left in the tank. 

So, out of the total tank capacity of 14.5 litres, we could refill up to 11.66 litres safely.

By the time I got to refilling the AdBlue/DEF, the warning message on the dashboard showed a refill needed in 1000 miles. Therefore, it was safe to assume that the empty space in the tank was 14.5 – (1000/530) = 12.61 litres already. So in theory, I could go ahead and empty the whole 10 litre can without any problems.

How to locate the diesel exhaust fluid tank refill point in a Range Rover Evoque:

The refill pipe is located at the top left corner under the hood as you face the car from the front. The cap is clearly labelled as “Ad Blue – DEF” so it will be hard to miss.

Refilling DEF in Range Rover Evoque:

The refill process is quite straightforward really. You attach the nozzle on the can first. You then position the can close to the refill cap and then carefully insert the nozzle inside the DEF refill pipe. As you tilt the can slowly, the DEF flows in quite smoothly.

The warning light also goes away pretty much instantly – once I started the engine after refilling, the warning message was no longer there. If it is still there, just go for a quick drive and it should go away soon.

via GIPHY

Gif description: How to top top up AdBlue / DEF in Range Rover Evoque

Take care when working out how much to refill as you do not want to overfill and risk causing complications. The easiest way to find out how much you need to refill is to give Land Rover a quick call and ask about your DEF tank capacity first. If you need additional advice, please visit this page on the Land Rover website which has some useful information:- 

https://www.landrover.co.uk/ownership/land-rover-adblue-and-def.html

I hope you found this post useful, giving you tips on a cheap and easy way to refill your diesel fluid. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks and speak soon!

DEF refill again after 6,298 miles and 1 yr 7 months later:

Update: 8th April 2022

So we are back and the message popped up again! 

Good old “Diesel Exhaust Fluid Low, Refill Required Within 1000 miles”

This time it showed up at 81,809 miles vs last time the same message showed up at 75,511 miles. So approximately 6,298 miles after my last top up of adblue/diesel exhaust fluid in my Range Rover Evoque. I topped up 10 litres and that lasted 6,298 miles, so that makes it 629 miles per litre of adblue/def fluid. Not sure how that compares to everyone else but interesting to observe nonetheless. 

Additionally, this time another message showed up as I delayed the adblue/def refill. At 82,437 miles mark, it started showing a slightly different message:

“No Engine Restart Possible In 257 miles
Diesel Exhaust Fluid refill required.”

So this prompted some urgency, and I went ahead and purchased 2 x 4 litres cans from our local Tesco petrol station. They cost me £7.68 each so altogether just over £15 for 8 litres of Redex AdBlue.

Without going into any detailed measurements, I knew that I was ok to empty all 8 litres into the car as last time it showed 1000 miles left, I refilled 10 litres without any problems.

All worked ok again like a charm, and the message disappeared instantly when I started up my Range Rover Evoque. I thought it would be useful for some readers if we came back and added an update after almost 2 years.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and please do share your experience, tips or simply how you got on when you saw the diesel exhaust fluid low alert on your Range Rover Evoque in the comments below. Speak soon!