Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Barcombe Cross: Why It Happens
Pause reading a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where your vehicle sits around Barcombe Cross, is normally what it takes if caught before the engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many current diesels on the roads about Barcombe Cross and Spithurst carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean them, from its own tank.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Barcombe Cross: how it happens
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a driveway off The Grange before work, or in the car park outside The Royal Oak on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: a new motor.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Barcombe Cross or out in Barcombe.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Barcombe Cross forecourt or a driveway over in Cooksbridge, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you collect a rental or fleet car — from Cooksbridge's car park, say — not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is around East Sussex — a simple routine to use.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Weald View.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure the diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Don't go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Barcombe Cross already?
Short list, then. First: the motor stays off. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Clayhill Service Station, the Offham Garage & Store or somewhere else. Your own driveway around Barcombe Cross is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit means where to come off if you're on the M23, under 15 miles from Barcombe Cross. Distance counts — a quick hop across Barcombe Cross makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Brighton and Hove — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival around Barcombe Cross, and what takes place next
The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near St Francis of Assisi, or by Barcombe Church of England Primary School. Those replies decide the work and the quote, so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. The price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before leaving, we fire it up and make sure that it is running correctly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Barcombe Cross itself
Barcombe Cross is a village situated in the valley of the River Ouse in East Sussex, with Barcombe Cross being a small riverside community at an elevation of 32 metres. Barcombe Cross lies near the town of Lewes and the city of Brighton and Hove, which is approximately 9.9 miles away. Barcombe Cross has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant in the area. Barcombe Cross is close to nearby places such as Barcombe, Mount Pleasant, and Barcombe Mills.
AdBlue drains about Barcombe Cross, and East Sussex beyond
As a village, Barcombe Cross shares its vans nearby places — Mount Pleasant, Barcombe Mills — right across BN postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting BN8 5.
Moving the car isn't necessary. Draining takes place right there, whether a driveway, a street by Barcombe Village Hall, or a layby on the way to Barcombe Recreation Ground. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Mary's, Barcombe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Barcombe Cross drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere around East Sussex.