AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bewbush: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. In Bewbush, catching it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many modern diesels on the roads around Bewbush and Southgate carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean it, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. It's in the gap that the slip lives.
Bewbush: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and running dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Byrd Road, or at The Windmill on the way home after work.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Gossops Green or the heart of Bewbush: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Bewbush forecourt or a driveway out in West Green, spend a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Ifield? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around West Sussex that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Bewbush Drive, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look once more — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bewbush?
Do not start the motor: that is where the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Shell, Esso or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car away if asked. Your own drive in Bewbush is where it stays.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then turn off. Leave the M23 — under 3 miles out of Bewbush — at the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Bewbush is smaller a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Brighton and Hove, and so say.
Bewbush: what occurs when our technicians get there
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, be it by The Bewbush Academy, beside Bewbush Community Centre or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Those answers determine this work and the price, and so our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears out unaided, no matter how long it sits. Once your filter has been flushed — or replaced, where required — clean diesel is added, and finally your car gets tested. The engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once we arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Bewbush, briefly
Bewbush is a suburban area in West Sussex, situated near the River Mole and characterised by its terraced housing. Bewbush sits at an elevation of 76 metres, within the South East region of England, and is located near the communities of Gossops Green, Broadfield, and Ifield. Bewbush is part of the larger urban area surrounding Crawley, with Brighton and Hove approximately 19.7 miles to the south. Bewbush has a population of around 9512 residents.
AdBlue drains across West Sussex, Bewbush included
Being a residential suburb, Bewbush has the same vans as surrounding areas — Broadfield, Ifield — right through RH postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting RH11 8 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle does not need to shift. Anywhere it stands — near St Alban's, on a lay-by heading to Bewbush Green Playing Field, at home — that is where it gets emptied. Guessing doesn't help behind Crawley Spiritualist Church & Healing Centre, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
In short, for Bewbush drivers
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in West Sussex, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.