Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Barling: Why It Happens
Keep your motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, carried out just where the car stands around Barling, is usually all it takes if found before your engine runs. Reading in advance? Then what follows explains how it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Paglesham Eastend, as well as Barling, run on two fluids; the engine gets only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Every tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which cap to use. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Barling
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Barling Road, or at Castle Inn on the way home after work.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and once the tip begins, nothing stops it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Barling or out in Little Wakering.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Barling or a drive over in Samuels Corner. Seconds, that's all.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many motors, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many vehicles mark what belongs in which inlet right there.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Thorpe Bay's car park, say — not when the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are across Essex — a simple routine to use.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor off, and never rushed by Little Wakering Road at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Barling?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — BP, Asda or another — the staff will normally help push your car clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Barling.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Barling lies under 25 miles from the M2; on it, take the first junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Barling makes a smaller job than driving under 5 miles towards Southend-on-Sea — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Barling, and what occurs next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Barling Magna Primary Academy, close to All Saints, Barling Magna or on your own driveway. The replies determine the work and our price, and so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run. No one heads out until you have had the quote by phone.
Then your tank is drained and your system purged thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. That is why it matters more. Filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a check of the vehicle. Your engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before we head off.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Barling and where it is
Barling is a small village on the coast of Essex, situated near the mouth of the River Roach and close to the town of Southend-on-Sea. Barling has a low elevation of around 5 metres above sea level and is surrounded by other nearby places such as Little Wakering and Great Wakering. Barling is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is located approximately 39 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Essex, Barling included
Barling is a coastal village, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Stonebridge and Great Wakering among them, across the SS postcode area. Fastest of all: give a SS3 0 postcode to the van.
The vehicle does not need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Barling Magna Wildlife Reserve, a side street close to Saint Mary the Virgin: we drain the vehicle where it is. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Great Wakering Community Centre, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Barling people
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave it off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Essex.