How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Benington
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Benington. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Benington and Bassus Green carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Plenty of motors share a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what filler to use. The slip lives in that gap.
Benington: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Duck Lane, or outside The Bell on the way home that evening.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, keeps on. It's a few seconds, whether in Burns Green or bang in the heart of Benington.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Walkern or a forecourt around Benington.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- On many cars, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many motors show what goes in which filler right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Watton-At-Stone? Ask whoever drove it last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever across Hertfordshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Town Lane.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed throughout. After that, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Benington?
Do not start your motor: that's where the short order of things starts. Leave the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it by itself starts the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — Pace, Sainsbury's or another — the attendants will usually help push the car away, if you ask. If you are on your own drive around Benington, leave the car where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction is where to leave if you are on the A1(M), under 5 miles from Benington. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards St Albans, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Benington.
When we arrive around Benington, what occurs?
Outside Benington Church of England Primary School, close to St. Peter's Church or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — which fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. No one sets off before you've heard the price over the phone.
Draining the tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. Hence it counts more. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the car. Your engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Benington, briefly
Benington is a small village in Hertfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 118 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type. Benington lies approximately 26.9 miles north of London and 13.8 miles east of St Albans, near the villages of Burns Green, Hebing End, and Clay End. Benington has a population of around 626 residents, making it a quiet and close-knit community.
AdBlue drains about Benington, and Hertfordshire beyond
Benington is a rural village, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Hebing End and Clay End among them, across the SG postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting SG2 7.
The vehicle stays put. Wherever it sits — near Walkern Hall, on a lay-by heading to Benington Recreation Ground, on a drive — that's where it is cleared. Guessing doesn't help behind Walkern Sports & Community Centre, on a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
The short version for Benington people
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Hertfordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.