Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Boxmoor: Why It Happens
Stop reading for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the engine hasn't turned, it's emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the car sits in Boxmoor. Reading in advance? In that case the rest covers why it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many current diesels on the roads round Boxmoor and Counters End carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each filling station visit, again and again. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
Boxmoor: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Wharf Road before work, or in the car park outside The Three Blackbirds on the way home.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches 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, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it happens in Green End or the middle of Boxmoor, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Chaulden or a forecourt around Boxmoor, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On many vehicles, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel filler? Then check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Hemel Hempstead? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever around Hertfordshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of St. John's Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Boxmoor?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Texaco, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car away when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Boxmoor.
Where the motor has run already, stop somewhere safe and turn it off. On the M1, under 3 miles from Boxmoor, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards St Albans, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Boxmoor.
Our arrival around Boxmoor, and what takes place next
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, be it by Boxmoor Primary School, beside Boxmoor Playhouse or at home, our van comes to it. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the replies set the work and quote. That quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the 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 here than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of your car. Your engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Boxmoor itself
Boxmoor is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated on the banks of the Grand Union Canal and the River Bulbourne. Boxmoor sits at an elevation of around 92 metres, with its semi-detached housing stock reflecting the typical residential architecture of the region. Boxmoor is located near several smaller communities, including Green End, Paradise, and Hammerfield, and is close to the city of St Albans. Boxmoor is also within commuting distance of London, approximately 22.5 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Boxmoor, and Hertfordshire beyond
Boxmoor is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Paradise and Hammerfield among them, across the HP postcode area. Fastest of all: give a HP1 1 postcode for the van.
No need to move the car. Anywhere it sits — near Saint John the Evangelist, Boxmoor, on a lay-by heading to Blackbirds Moor, at home — that's where it gets emptied. Tricky to explain, like the back of Fishery Wharf folk/blues/arts venue.? By a county line? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
For Boxmoor people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Hertfordshire.