Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Andrews Hill
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Andrews Hill. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels on the roads about Andrews Hill and Balls Green carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of motors have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Andrews Hill?
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Stane Street before work, or in the car park at The Blacksmiths' Arms on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a strange motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Andrews Hill or out in Parbrook.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Andrews Hill forecourt or a drive over in Coneyhurst, spend a few seconds over these before any goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Check when you collect a hire car or company car — at Billingshurst's car park, perhaps — not when the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across West Sussex that is.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never rushed beside Bridgewater Close at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using the own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Skip step five altogether.
Andrews Hill: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start your motor: that is how the short order of things starts. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the EG On the Move, the LPG Station or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Andrews Hill.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Leave the M23 — under 15 miles out of Andrews Hill — at the next exit. Distance matters — a short hop across Andrews Hill is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Chichester — so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in Andrews Hill, what happens?
Outside Billingshurst Primary Academy, near Adversane Hall or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, since those answers settle the work and our price. Nobody heads out before you have had our quote by phone.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, after your tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. The filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. Before leaving, we fire it up and confirm that it is running properly.
If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Andrews Hill and where it is
Andrews Hill is a suburban area in West Sussex, situated near the River Adur and close to the villages of Parbrook and Adversane. Andrews Hill has a relatively low elevation of around 25 metres and is located near the town of Billingshurst. Andrews Hill is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is approximately 18 miles from the city of Chichester. Andrews Hill is also within commuting distance of London, being around 37.5 miles from the capital.
Andrews Hill and West Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Adversane and Billingshurst are among the towns around Andrews Hill, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over RH postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting RH14 9.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. Draining happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a street near Trinity United Reformed Church, or a lay-by towards Little Lordings Wood. Guessing doesn't help at the back of The Depot, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
For Andrews Hill drivers, the short version
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around West Sussex.