Worrying problem with AdBlue

Am driving 2019 Peugeot Warwick XL deep in southwest France.
Filled 14 litre AdBlue tank before setting off. Drove 500 miles and got screen message 'AdBlue level low' together with illumination of warning light directly below. Said light stayed on. Got to campsite and filled tank and light went off however it only took 3 litres to fill it which didn't seem to correlate with need for warning message given the 14 litres capacity of the tank. Took van to French Peugeot dealer who ran computer diagnostics which found no faults. Dealer tried to be very helpful but I felt it was a case of 'Computer say no' regardless of what had happened in reality. Will continue to drive and will top up whenever warning appears but am deeply concerned that the draconian 'AdBlue automatic engine shutdown' might  kick in leaving us stranded.
Has anyone else experienced the same problem and if so what is the remedy?
(My further, rhetorical, question is why do these things always happen on a Sunday followed by a bank holiday when the whole of France, especially AdBlue retailers and Peugeot concessionnaires, are closed?)

Hi did you check the owners manual on the procedure for the filling of the ad blue tank? 
I am not an expert, but I think that it has to be done with ignition off, then as you switch on there is a time where the system measures that it has been refilled. 

If this isn't done the van doesn't know its been its been topped up / filled so assumes it is still low, so the low level light comes on as more ad blue is consumed.
So now if it has been rest at the dealer it may be totally fine.

A friend of mine that works on modern VW cars advised me never to fill right to the top, as the level is determined by the empty space at the top above the fluid, rather than the volume of fluid in the tank....I cant know if that is 100% but I don't fill right to the top anymore!

Thank you NCB for those useful insights. The ignition was off when I filled the tank but next time I won’t fill it right to the top.
I’ve now driven 200 miles since I filled it and  so far have had no further warnings so I’m hoping to complete the holiday via further interim fillings and then let my UK Peugeot dealer sort it out
On our latest site I’ve spoken to an owner of the Fiat equivalent of my Peugeot, the Fiat having having the same engine and he has not experienced the same problem so there’s definitely a fault on mine.

I’ve only had the light come on once during the first year of ownership and I filled up the tank. I have topped it up since but before the light came back on. 

I can’t remember the exact details but for the next 100 miles after the first fill I did have issues with the light coming on. I didn’t overly worry as I knew the tank was full and sure enough it eventually went out and has been fine since.
It’s as if the computer needed to sort it’s head out after filling!!

Thank you. Your experience clearly indicates there is a fault on my van. Just driven another 120 miles with no problems but it will be interesting to see what happens when it reaches 500 miles since the last top up.

One more thing Purdy, the warning comes up at just over 1,500 miles remaining and when you reach 930 miles remaining, you get a mileage count down so if you haven't started to get the mileage count down then you have more than 930 miles remaining.
However, I expect it is just the level meter catching up as said already.

Thanks Don, that’s comforting. My concerns arise from not knowing whether the automatic cut out of the engine is controlled by the 
availability of Adblue in its tank or by the computer thinking the tank is empty. If it’s the former I can relax because I know, from my refilling experience (see my first post), that there’s at least 10 litres in the tank when the light comes on. If it’s the latter it suggests that the computer is faulty and I could be vulnerable to an unmerited cut  out. I’m very grateful for your mileage countdown information and wondered where you got it from. I can’t find anything as useful as that either in my handbook or on the web so would you mind sharing it’s source?

I’m sure it’s in the handbook? Not the A/S manual but the Peugeot one.

V8oholic is the man that knows.

Just checked the handbook and all I can find (page 86) is that the warning light comes on when the range reaches 1500 miles and in the highlighted para below that  a warning that it refers to if there is, quote, a “Confirmed fault” you must go to a Dealer within 250 miles or the engine cuts out. Sadly it doesn’t explain how you are notified of a confirmed fault. Given my warning light is illuminating when the range is down to 1500 miles but it only took a 3 litres fill up the implication is that the remaining 11 litres in the 14 litre tank will be consumed at a rate of one litre every 136 miles which is crazy! There’s something wrong somewhere and I just hope my UK dealer can sort it

purdyhorse wrote:I’m very grateful for your mileage countdown information and wondered where you got it from. I can’t find anything as useful as that either in my handbook or on the web so would you mind sharing it’s source?

Checking the manual supplied with my 2017 vehicle (also online), it says the remaining range warning is triggered at 375m remaining.  Looking through my notes, I have triggered this myself twice, with me once filling with 817 miles remaining, once 849 miles remaining so the remaining range warning must have triggered before 375m remaining.
A video was recorded on the first occasion, the message is over a few screens so I'm fairly confident it is real. The message is
.. "Adblue"
.. "Cannot restart"
.. "in 849 mi"
TBC I do not admit making a video whilst driving.
My 2017 van has a screen like an old calculator, newer vans may have a different screen.  2017 vans also have a 15l tank and they do not "cut out", they just refuse to restart which is different.

I have no problem travelling past the 1,500 mile warning when I know I have an Adblue container in the footwell so that's probably why I have triggered it twice.

Thank you. It does look like they made some changes between 2017 and 2019. Like you, I’m now carrying a reserve supply of Adblue in the vehicle.

I do feel that people sometimes get a bit too worried about adblue.
Glyne, your last statement is interesting about needing 3.8lt to restart. I was in ECP yesterday and wondered why there were 4lt bottles on the shelf? It makes a bit more sense now.

Indeed, what’s the point of lugging 10 litres around when the light comes up and it’s out of date?
Another common mistake people make is that it degrades over time. I must admit not knowing if that fact is true or just a sales technique?

RL
Thanks everyone for your very informative replies. I’ve learned a lot.
The basic facts regarding my experience are:
+ my Peugeot handbook states the Adblue tank holds 14 litres
+ the tank was full when I set off
+ the warning came on after driving 800 miles 
+ it took 3 litres to fill the tank thus implying that (1) the vehicle had consumed 1 litre of Adblue every 267 miles and (2) there were 11 litres in the tank when the warning light appeared
+ the warning is supposed to appear when a driving range of 1500 miles remains thus indicating that the remaining 11 litres would be consumed at a rate of 136 miles per litre which does not correlate with the consumption rate of the first 3 litres and is totally at odds with published indicative consumption rates.

Conclusion: something is radically wrong with the system and I need to carry a reserve supply until I can get a Peugeot dealer to sort it out.

Thanks again for all your contributions.