AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bolnore Village: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out just where your car stands around Bolnore Village, is normally all it takes when caught before the engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels near Bolnore Village and Haywards Heath run, with diesel feeding your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both together behind one flap. Diesel goes in on each filling station visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
Bolnore Village: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Roundway, or on the way home in the car park outside The Heath Tavern.
Unfamiliar motors are second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it 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, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. It takes seconds, whether out in Bolnore or right in the centre of Bolnore Village.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Bolnore Village or a driveway over in Lunces Common. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook shows where it is if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Haywards Heath, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the 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 Brooklands, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Bolnore Village: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Texaco or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the pump. On your own drive in Bolnore Village? So the car stays put.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M23, under 10 miles from Bolnore Village, that means the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Bolnore Village is a smaller job than driving under 15 miles to Brighton and Hove — so tell us about how far it went.
When we turn up around Bolnore Village, what occurs?
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside Woodside Pavilion, or by Bolnore Village Primary School. The answers determine the work and the quote, and so we ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run. On the call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we leave.
If the engine 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. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Bolnore Village, briefly
Bolnore Village is a suburban area located in West Sussex, situated approximately 36 miles south of London and 11 miles north of Brighton and Hove. Bolnore Village sits in a relatively low-lying area at an elevation of around 50 metres, surrounded by other localities such as Bolnore, Fox Hill, and Chownes Mead. Bolnore Village has a population of around 3400 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Bolnore Village is part of the larger Haywards Heath area, with its residents likely commuting to nearby cities for work and amenities.
AdBlue drains round Bolnore Village, and West Sussex beyond
As a residential suburb, Bolnore Village has the same vans as surrounding areas — Fox Hill, Chownes Mead — right through RH postcodes and the wider area beyond. Give a postcode that starts RH16 4, and the van arrives quickest.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street near Ashground Community Centre, a lay-by on the way to Tim Farmer Recreation Ground, a driveway. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Ascension Church/ Community Centre, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Bolnore Village motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it stands, wherever across West Sussex: keep the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.