How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Brill
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where your car sits in Brill, is normally what it needs if found before your motor runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the why it occurs and the ways to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many current diesels on the roads round Brill and Boarstall carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which filler to use. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Brill: how it takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a driveway off High Street before work, or in the car park outside The Pointer heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new vehicle 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.
No part halts the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Little London or the heart of Brill: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Honeyburge or a forecourt around Brill, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook says which it is if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Haddenham & Thame Parkway.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light comes on, wherever across Buckinghamshire, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Temple Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through the built-in spout.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Stage five stays out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Brill?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car clear if asked. If you're on your own drive around Brill, leave the vehicle where it is.
Already run? Stop once it's sensible, then turn off. On the M40, under 3 miles from Brill, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Brill makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Oxford — so tell us about how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians arrive around Brill
Anywhere your car has stopped, whether outside Brill Church of England School, beside Brill Memorial Hall or at home, the van travels to it. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the replies settle this work and our price. During the phone call itself, you hear our price — ahead of dispatch.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes away on its own, however long it is left. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before we leave, our technicians start it and check that it is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Brill and where it is
Brill is a village in Buckinghamshire, situated in the inland countryside of the South East region, approximately 45 miles from London. Brill sits at an elevation of around 190 metres, near the Chiltern Hills, and is close to the nearby cities of Oxford and Aylesbury. Brill has a mix of housing types, with semi-detached homes being predominant, and is surrounded by smaller settlements like Little London, Oakley, and Dorton. Brill remains a small, rural community with a population of around 882 residents.
Brill and Buckinghamshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Oakley and Dorton are among the places around Brill, a rural village, that the same teams cover, throughout HP postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts HP18 9, and the van arrives quickest.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to All Saints Parish Church, a lay-by on the way to The Walks, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Saint Mary? Close to a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
Brill drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it stands, anywhere around Buckinghamshire: keep the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.