Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Brockley Corner
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Brockley Corner. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your motor — but many newer diesels driven about Brockley Corner and Ingham carry a second fluid as well. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two side by side under one flap. Diesel goes in on each forecourt call-out, again and again. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Brockley Corner
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a driveway off B1106 before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
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. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Brockley Corner or out in Wordwell.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these first, on a forecourt around Brockley Corner or a drive out in Flempton. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Bury St Edmunds? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever in Suffolk, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Brandon Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Stage five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Brockley Corner already?
Don't start the motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Esso, Tesco or any other — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle away, when you ask. On your own drive in Brockley Corner? So your car remains where it is.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is the place to leave if you're on the M11, under 50 miles from Brockley Corner. Distance counts — a short hop across Brockley Corner is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Ely — so tell us about how far it went.
Brockley Corner: what takes place when our technicians turn up
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Howard Community Academy, close to Culford Village Sign or on your own driveway. What fluid got in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask since the answers decide the work and quote. The quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Draining the tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing washes away unaided, no matter how long it is left. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need about half an hour after our technicians arrive. 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 — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Brockley Corner itself
Brockley Corner is a small hamlet in Suffolk, situated inland at an elevation of 32 metres, and is located near the villages of Wordwell, Culford, and West Stow. Brockley Corner is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Brockley Corner sits approximately 19 miles from the city of Ely and about 65 miles from London, making it a relatively remote community in the Eastern region.
AdBlue drains across Suffolk, Brockley Corner included
Over IP postcodes, our teams covering Brockley Corner — a rural hamlet — work the surrounding spots too, West Stow and Culford among them. A postcode starting IP28 6 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. Draining happens right there, whether a driveway, a road near Culford Estate War Memorial, or a layby on the way to Parsonsgap Covert. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Culford Village Hall, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Brockley Corner motorists
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Suffolk, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.