Bradwell Common: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Bradwell Common, catching it before the motor runs normally means a drain and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it occurs and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your engine — but many modern diesels driven round Bradwell Common and Rooksley hold another liquid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both side by side behind one flap. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur around Bradwell Common?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Conniburrow Boulevard before work, or in the car park at The Sound Lounge on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: a strange motor.
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 after it has started. Whether it occurs in Linford Wood or the middle of Bradwell Common, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt in Bradwell Common or a driveway out in Conniburrow. A few seconds, no more.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Milton Keynes Central? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Buckinghamshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Bradwell Common Boulevard, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Bradwell Common?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Texaco or the BP, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. Your own drive in Bradwell Common is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Come off the M1 — under 3 miles out of Bradwell Common — at the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Bradwell Common is less work than a run of under a mile to Milton Keynes, and so say.
When we arrive in Bradwell Common, what occurs?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, be it by Germander Park School, near Conniburrow Community Centre or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those answers determine this work and our price. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. After the fuel filter is cleaned — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Bradwell Common
Bradwell Common is a suburban area located near the centre of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, with a mix of residential and commercial properties. Bradwell Common sits at an elevation of around 111 metres, close to the wooded area of Linford Wood and the shopping district of Central Milton Keynes. Bradwell Common is characterized by a high proportion of flat dwellings, reflecting its urban setting. Bradwell Common is situated approximately 46 miles northwest of London, making it a commuter hub for those working in the capital.
Bradwell Common and Buckinghamshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Bradwell Common is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Central Milton Keynes and Milton Keynes among them, across the MK postcode area. A postcode starting MK13 8 gets our van to you fastest.
The car remains put. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a road by Milton Keynes City Council, or a layby towards Stanton Wood. Awkward to explain, like the back of Octo? By a border? Asking beats assuming, so ring.
In short, for Bradwell Common motorists
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the car off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Buckinghamshire.