Boughton Lees: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where the vehicle stands in Boughton Lees, is usually all it takes if caught before the motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many newer diesels on the roads about Boughton Lees and Boughton Corner carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
There is a filler on every tank. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Boughton Lees: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Pilgrims Way, perhaps at The Flying Horse on the way home that evening.
New-to-you vehicles are second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after begun, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Boughton Lees or out in Eastwell Park.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Boughton Lees or a driveway over in Goat Lees. Seconds, no more.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Wye.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere in Kent, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and not rushed by Wye Road on the verge.
- 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.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Do not go on to stage five.
Boughton Lees: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Wye Motors, the Willesborough Kennington Garages or somewhere else. Your own driveway in Boughton Lees is where it should stay.
Already run? Stop when it is safe, then turn off. Boughton Lees lies under 3 miles from the M20; on it, use the next junction. A short hop across Boughton Lees is a smaller job than a run towards Canterbury, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
When we arrive around Boughton Lees, what occurs?
By Downs View Infant School, close to War Memorial or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. The price is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. A test is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced as needed. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Boughton Lees
Boughton Lees is a small village in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of 69 metres, and is located near the larger city of Canterbury. Boughton Lees has a population of around 513 people, and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Boughton Lees is close to nearby places such as Eastwell Park and Kempes Corner, and is also near the village of Boughton Aluph. Boughton Lees is approximately 49.3 miles from London, making it a rural community within commuting distance of the capital.
AdBlue drains about Boughton Lees, and Kent beyond
Boughton Lees is a rural village, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Kempes Corner and Boughton Aluph among them, across the TN postcode area. Give a postcode that starts TN25 4, and our van arrives quickest.
There's no need to move your car. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street by The Iron Room, or a lay-by on the way to Eastwell Manor. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St Christopher's Church.
In short, for Boughton Lees motorists
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Kent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.